Mysuru: Even as the Cauvery dispute continues to simmer in the Mysuru region, the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir crossed the 100-ft mark on Monday against its full reservoir level of 124.8ft. Last year, the reservoir reached this level on May 30.The reservoir has witnessed a steady rise over the past few days, gaining nearly 8ft in just three days and boosting hopes among farmers and water managers. Officials of the water resources department said that if the current inflow continues for another 10 to 15 days with sustained rainfall in the catchment areas, the reservoir is likely to reach its full capacity.However, storage in KRS, the largest of the four major reservoirs in Karnataka’s Cauvery basin, is yet to cross the 50% mark. As of Aug 3, the reservoir held 23tmcft of water against its capacity of 49.4tmcft. Meanwhile, the Hemavathi reservoir at Gorur in Hassan district is inching closer to full capacity.Heavy rainfall in the catchment areas has increased inflows into the four Cauvery basin reservoirs — Harangi, Hemavathi, KRS and Kabini — from 52,000 cusecs on Aug 2 to 77,000 cusecs on Aug 3. KRS recorded the highest inflow at 32,000 cusecs, followed by Kabini at 31,700 cusecs, Hemavathi at 12,000 cusecs and Harangi at 11,600 cusecs.The combined outflow from the reservoirs rose from 11,700 cusecs to 28,800 cusecs over the past 24 hours. Of this, Kabini alone accounted for about 27,000 cusecs, while KRS released 1,821 cusecs.According to the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam authorities, in 24 hours ending 8am on Monday, a total of 2.3tmc of water was released from Kabini dam in HD Kote taluk to the river.The sharp rise in reservoir levels has also brought temporary relief from the recent Cauvery water-sharing tensions. Agitations by farmers and Kannada organisations against the release of Cauvery water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu have subsided for now as storage levels continue to improve.According to data from the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), the total outflow from the four reservoirs since June 1 stands at 11tmcft.
