Revision as of 02:10, 19 September 2017

A 1908 article on the Cauvery

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

{Kaveri; the Xu^r/pos of the Greek geographer Ptolemy). — A great river of Southern India, famous alike for its traditional sanctity, its picturesque scenery, and its utility for irrigation. Rising on the Brahmagiri, a hill in Coorg, high up amid the Western Ghats (12° 25' N. and 75'^ 34' E.), it flows in a generally south-east direction across the plateau of Mysore, and finally pours itself into the Bay of Bengal in the Madras District of Tanjore. Total length, about 475 miles ; esti- mated area of drainage basin, 28,000 square miles. It is known to devout Hindus as Dakshina Ganga, or the ' Ganges of the South,' and the whole of its course is holy ground. According to the legend pre- served in the Agneya and Skanda Puranas, there was once born upon earth a girl named Vishnumaya or Lopamudra, the daughter of Brahma ; but her divine father permitted her to be regarded as the child of a mortal called Kavera-muni. In order to obtain beatitude for her adoptive father, she resolved to become a river whose water should purify from all sin. Hence it is that even the holy Ganga resorts underground, once in the year, to the source of the Cauvery, to purge herself from the pollution contracted from the crowd of sinners who have bathed in her waters. At Tala Kaveri, where the river rises, and at Bhagamandala, where it receives its first tributary, stand ancient temples frequented annually by crowds of pilgrims in the month of Tulamasa (October-November).

The course of the Cauvery in Coorg is tortuous ; its bed is rocky ; its banks are high and covered with luxuriant vegetation. In the dry season it is fordable almost anywhere, but during the rains it swells into a torrent 20 or 30 feet deep. In this portion of its course it is joined by many tributaries— the Kakk;ibe, Kadanur, Kumma-hole, Muttara- mudi, Chikka-hole, and Survarnavati, or Haringi. Near the frontier, at the station of Fraserpet, it is spanned by a magnificent stone bridge, 516 feet in length. Soon after entering Mysore State, the Cauvery passes through a narrow gorge, with a fall of 60 to 80 feet in the rapids of Chunchan-Katte. After this it widens to an average breadth of from 300 to 400 yards till it receives the Kabbani, from which point it swells to a much broader stream. Its bed continues rocky, so as to forbid all navigation, but its banks are bordered with a rich belt of ' wet ' cultiva- tion. In its course through Mysore the river is interrupted by no less than twelve anicuts (dams) for the purpose of irrigation. Including irrigation from the tributaries, the total length of channels on the Cauvery system in Mysore in 1904-5 was 968 miles, the area irrigated 112,000 acres, and the revenue obtained nearly 7 lakhs. The finest channel is 72 miles long, and two others each run to 41 miles. The construction of three of the principal dams is attributed to the Mysore king, Chikka Deva Raja (1672-1704).

In Mysore the river forms the two islands of Skringapatam and SiVASAMUDRAM, about 50 miles apart, which vie in sanctity with the island of Srlrangam lower down in Trichinopoly District. Both islands are approached from the north by interesting bridges of native construc- tion, composed of hewn-stone pillars founded on the rocky bed of the stream, and connected by stone girders. The one at Seringapatam, about 1,400 feet long, named the Wellesley Bridge, after the Governor- General, was erected between 1803 and 1804 by the famous Diwan Purnaiya. That at Sivasamudram, 1,580 feet long, and called, after a Governor of Madras, the Lushington Bridge, was erected between 1830 and 1832 by a private individual, who also bridged the other arm in the same way and was honoured with suitable rewards. The river is moreover bridged at Seringapatam for the Mysore State Railway, and at Yedatore. The first fresh in the river generally occurs about the middle of June. In August the flow of water begins to decrease, but the river is not generally fordable till the end of October.

Enclosing the island of Sivasamudram are the celebrated Falls ot the Cauvery, unrivalled for romantic beauty. The river, here running north-east, branches into two channels, each of which makes a descent of 320 feet in a succession of rapids and broken cascades. The western fall is known as the Gagana Chukki ('sky spray'), and the eastern as the Bhar Chukki (' heavy spray '). The former, which is itself split by a small island, dashes with deafening roar over vast boulders of rock in a cloud of foam, the column of vapour rising from it being visible at times for miles. The eastern fall is quieter, and in the rainy season pours over the hill-side in an unbroken sheet a quarter of a mile broad. At other times the principal stream falls down a deep recess in the form of a horseshoe, and then rushes through a narrow channel, again falling about 30 feet into a large basin at the foot of the precipice. This waterfall is said to resemble the Horseshoe Fall of Niagara. The parted streams unite again on the north-east of the island and hurry on through wild and narrow gorges, one point being called the Mekedatu or ' goat's leap.'

The Cauvery has now been harnessed at Sivasamudram, the western fall being utilized for generating electricity to drive the machinery at the KoLAR Gold Fields, 92 miles distant, and to supply electric lighting for the city and power for a mill at Bangalore, 59 miles away. The instal- lation, delivering 4,000 h.p. at the mines, has been in successful operation since the middle of 1902, and was increased by 2,500 h.p. in 1905. It was the first of its kind in India, and at the time of its inception one of the longest lines of electric transmission in the world.

The principal towns on the river in Mysore are Yedatore, Seringa- patam, and Talakad, the last named being an old capital, now almost buried under sand-dunes. Crocodiles are numerous ; but they have seldom been known to attack fishermen, and the natives in general stand in no dread of them. Shoals of large fish, which are held sacred, are fed daily by the Brahmans at Ramnathpur and Yedatore. The Mysore tributaries of the Cauvery are, on the north, the Hemavati, Lokapavani, Shimsha, and Arkavati ; on the south, the Lakshman- TiRTHA, Kabbani, and Suvarnavati or Honnu-hole.

The Cauvery enters the Presidency of Madras at the Falls of Sivasa- mudram, and forms the boundary between the Districts of Coimbatore and Salem for a considerable distance, until it strikes into Trichinopoly. In this part of its course, near Alambadi in Coimbatore, there is a remarkable rock in the middle of the stream which throws up a column of perpetual spray, though the water round it is to all appearances quite unbroken. It is called the ' smoking rock,' and the natives declare that the spray is due to the river pouring into an enormous chasm in its bed. Close under the historic Rock of Trichinopoly the Cauvery breaks at the island of Srirangam into two channels (crossed by masonry road bridges), which irrigate the delta of Tanjore, the garden of Southern India. The more northerly of these channels is called the Coleroon (KoUidam) ; that which continues the course of the river towards the east preserves the name of the Cauvery. On the seaward face of the delta are the open roadsteads of Tranquebar, Negapatam, and French Karikal. In Madras the chief tributaries of the Cauvery are the Bhavani, Noyil, and Amaravati. At Erode the river is crossed by the south-west line of the Madras Railway, by means of an iron girder- bridge, 1,536 feet long with 22 spans, on piers sunk into the solid rock.

The only navigation which exists on the Cauvery is carried on in coracles of basket-work, but the Coleroon is navigable for a few miles above its mouth by vessels of 4 tons burden.

Although the water of the Cauvery is utilized to a considerable extent for agriculture in Mysore, and also in Coimbatore and Trichinopoly Districts, it is in its delta that its value for irrigation becomes most conspicuous. At Srirangam, just above the point where it bifurcates to form the Coleroon, the flood discharge is estimated at 313,000 cubic feet per second. The problem of utilizing this storehouse of agri- cultural wealth was first grappled with about the eleventh century by one of the Chola kings, who constructed a massive dam of unhewn stone, 1, 080 feet long and from 40 to 60 feet broad, below the island of Srirangam, to keep the Cauvery separate from the Coleroon and drive it towards Tanjore District. This is still in existence and is known as the ' Grand Anicut.' It has been improved by British engineers and a road bridge has been built upon it. Below it the kings of the same dynasty cut several of the chief canals of the delta, some of which still bear their names, and the Cauvery irrigation is thus less entirely due to the British Government than that in the Godavari and Kistna deltas.

When the British first came into possession of Tanjore District, in 1801, it was found that the great volume of the water-supply was then passing down the Coleroon, which runs in a straighter course and at a lower level than the Cauvery, while the Cauvery proper was gradually silting up, and the irrigating channels that took off from it were becoming dry. The object of the engineering works that have been since constructed is to redress this unequal tendency, and to compel either channel to carry the maximum of water that can be put to good use. The first of these was the ' Upper Anicut ' across the head of the Coleroon at the upper end of Srirangam Island, constructed by Sir Arthur Cotton between 1836 and 1838. This is 2,250 feet long, broken by islands into three sections, and was designed to increase the supply in the Cauvery. It was followed in 1845 by a regulating dam, 1,950 feet long, across the Cauvery near the Grand Anicut, to prevent too much water flowing down this latter stream. Close to it a similar regulator was constructed in 1848 across the Vennar, one of the main branches of the Cauvery. From this point the Cauvery runs north- east and the Vennar south-east, both of them throwing off branch after branch, which in their turn split up into innumerable channels and form a vast network which irrigates the delta.

At the off-take of all the more considerable of these, head-works have been constructed to control and regulate the flow. The Cauvery itself eventually enters the sea by an extremely insignificant channel. From the Lower Anicut across that stream the Coleroon irrigates land in South Arcot as well as in Tanjore. In the three Districts of Tanjore, Trichinopoly, and South Arcot the two rivers water 1,107,000 acres, yielding a revenue of 41 lakhs. The capital cost of the works of improvement and extension in the delta has been 28 lakhs, and the net revenue from them is 8| lakhs, representing a return of nearly 31 per cent, on the outlay.

Cauvery river water dispute

The Times of India, September 12, 2016

1. The Cauvery river originates in Karnataka's Kodagu district, flows into Tamil Nadu and reaches the Bay of Bengal at Poompuhar. Parts of three Indian states - Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka - and the Union Territory of Pondicherry lie in the Cauvery basin.

2. The legal dispute over the waters of the Cauvery has its origins in agreements signed in 1892 and 1924 between the erstwhile princely state of Mysore and the Madras Presidency. Following a Supreme Court order, the Centre constituted the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) in 1990, to resolve the dispute. The tribunal gave Tamil Nadu 205 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) in an interim order in 1991.

3. In 2007, the tribunal declared its final award, in which it said Tamil Nadu should receive 419 tmcft of water, more than double the amount mentioned in the interim order. Karnataka wasn't pleased. The award required Karnataka to release 192 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu in ten monthly instalments every year. The Centre made the notification of the award public only in 2013, after the Supreme Court ordered it do so.

4. Before the 2007 order, Tamil Nadu had asked for 562 tmcft - roughly three-fourths of the water available in the Cauvery basin - and Karnataka had asked for 465 tmcft - around two-thirds of the available water.

5. In August 2016, the Tamil Nadu government said that there was a deficit of 50.0052 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of water released from Karnataka reservoirs, with respect to the minimum limit directed by the CDWT. The Karnataka government said it wouldn't be able to release any more Cauvery water, as low rainfall during the monsoon had left its reservoirs half-empty. Tamil Nadu then sought the apex court's intervention saying its farmers needed the water to begin cultivating samba crops.

6. On September 5, the Supreme Court ordered the Karnataka government to release 15,000 cusecs of water a day for 10 days, to Tamil Nadu. This led to widespread protests and bandhs in Karnataka. Farmers there said they didn't have enough water for their own farms. Properties in Tamil Nadu were also damaged.

7. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 9 and said that releasing 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water would "completely deprive" Bengaluru of the river's basin of drinking water. He also said prolonged unrest would hurt the state's IT sector, and noted that even the state BJP had asked his government not to implement the Supreme Court's order.

8. The Karnataka government filed a plea to the Supreme Court, which the latter agreed to hear. The Karnataka government requested the apex court to suspend its order directing it to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, because the latter isn't having a water crisis. The "agony claimed by Tamil Nadu on the water crisis" doesn't exist, the Karnataka government told the court. The SC refused to suspend that order.

9. It did, though, reduce the amount of water Karnataka has to release to Tamil Nadu, to 12,000 cusecs a day from 15,000 cusecs a day, and directed it to release the water until September 20.

10. At the same time, the apex court expressed its displeasure at the Karnataka government for not implementing its order. "Citizen and the executive of this country have to accept and obey the order of the SC unless it is modified. If the court passes an order, either comply or come for modification. People cannot take law into their hand," Justice Dipak Misra said.

Karnataka vs. Tamil Nadu

Some facts about Cauvery river and major reservoirs in Karnataka; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, September 12, 2016

The waters of River Cauvery: The dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, 1892-2016; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, September 7, 2016

Flashpoints in Karnataka, TN

Rohith BR, Kolaveri over farmers' use of Cauvery, The Times of India, September 11, 2017 

Human actions that harm the Cauvery; Rohith BR, Kolaveri over farmers' use of Cauvery, The Times of India, September 11, 2017

K'taka Asks Its Farmers To Switch To Drought-Resistant Crops, Tells TN To Use River Water Only For Drinking

A month ago, Karna taka chief minister Siddaramaiah said he would release Cauvery water from all four dams, but with a condition: The water was primarily for drinking. “Under no circumstances should it be used for agriculture,“ he said. Siddaramaiah followed it up with an appeal to farmers to stop growing paddy and sugarcane, and switch to semi-arid crops such as ragi and millet. “We've had the lowest rainfall in 46 years, and have water available only for drinking,“ he said.

Last month, Karnataka was staring at the possibility of drought--rain seemed to have failed, legal compulsions limited the amount of Cauvery water the state could use, dams In partnership with had hit dead storage, and farmers were enraged. Recently though, it has rained enough for water in Krishnarajasagar dam to cross 100 ft. Now, farmers want government to let them sow one paddy or sugarcane crop. But the state is hesitant to yield. “We are trying to promote crop diversity with millets, pulses, jowar and maize in the Cauvery basin for long-term water stability,“ says agriculture minister K B Gowda.

This is happening because the Cauvery has about 40% less water than it did 50 years ago.A 765-km-long river originating in Talakaveri in Kodagu district, deforestation, dams, hydroelectric and agricultural projects, and sewage discharge have reduced its size and altered its course over the years.

One of the main reasons for st cover its decline is loss of forest along its course, says professor ofes T V Ramachandra from IIS IISc's Centre for Ecological Sciences al Scie who is leading a study on n the basin. “Just 15% of its s 34,000sqkm catchment area in n Karnataka is forested againstgainst the required 33%,“ he says. ys He gives the example of Lakshmkshm anatirtha, a tributary , and says ays the study proved that feeder er streams with more vegetation on have water throughout the year. ea “Att places where forest cover has been en degraded for agriculture and plantations, streams dry up during non-monsoon months,“ he says.

The other reason is exploitation. When rain was plentiful, many dams and irrigation projects were built and areas that traditionally grew millet switched to paddy and sugarcane. Ramachandra says it is time to introduce curbs on sugarcane and paddy cultivation. “Only that need less water nly crops t must be allowed,“ he adds.mus Downstream, tributaries are all but dead under an onslaught of untreated sewage and industrial effluents. University of Mysore researchers found lead, cadmium and magnesium in the river bed this year. They categorised the river as `yellow', which means the water can turn toxic if corrective measures are not taken. If discharge of effluents and unvi able agricultural practices were not enough, coffee curing in Kodagu is adding to pollution.

The construction of three dams --Harangi on the Mysuru-Kodagu border, Hemavathi in Hassan and Chiklihole in Kodagu--has also submerged vast tracts of forest, affecting rainfall in catchment areas.“Habitat manipulation in the name of development, including expansion of agricultural practices, has reduced rainfall and inflow in the Cauvery,“ says P M Muthanna of Wildlife First.

A former forester says the shift from agriculture to tourism has also hit water levels.“Kodagu has 32% forest cover but the Cauvery catchment area is mainly private and revenue lands. In many places, revenue department is allowing conversion from agricultural to commercial use without control.This should be stopped to save the Cauvery ,“ he says.

WATER-SHARING OR WATER DIVIDING?

The Karnataka government along with Isha Foundation will plant 25 crore saplings on river banks across the state, chief minister Siddaramaiah announced at an event held in Bengaluru on Saturday as part of spiritual guru Sadhguru's Rally for Rivers. At a similar event in Mysuru on Friday, Sadhguru met farmers from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu caught in a four decade-long dispute over sharing of Cauvery waters.“I need water and you need water and therefore dividing water for use is not justice. But nourishing water resources is true justice for water,“ he said. On Sunday, the rally reached Chennai, where Sadhguru met TN chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

Judicial intervention

The Times of India, September 10, 2016

SC’s bridge over troubled Cauvery waters

The dispute over the Cauvery waters between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka began in 125 years in 1891. With both states still fighting tooth and nail at the Supreme Court over the river's water, an amicable end is a far cry.

Karnataka told to release 15,000 cusecs daily to TN

Tamil Nadu-Karnataka, Cauvery water dispute; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, September 10, 2016

The Indian Express, September 6, 2016

Karnataka told to release 15,000 cusecs daily to Tamil Nadu.

The Supreme Court directed the Karnataka government to release 15,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days to make sure the samba crops in Tamil Nadu survive.

“Keeping in view the gesture shown by the Karnataka and the plight that has been projected with agony by Tamil Nadu, we think it appropriate to direct that 15 cusecs of water per day be released at Biligundulu by Karnataka for 10 days,” said a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Uday U Lalit. Karnataka had offered to release 10,000 cusecs every day while demanding 20,000 cusecs for itself. Considering that samba crops in Tamil Nadu required water immediately, the bench provided for an interim arrangement and said Karnataka would release 15,000 cusecs water every day for the next 10 days.

It also directed the Tamil Nadu government to approach the supervisory committee within three days for the release of Cauvery water as per the final order of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal. The supervisory committee has been asked to pass orders on Tamil Nadu’s plea in 10 days. The court posted the matter for further hearing on September 16.

On September 2, the Supreme Court had urged Karnataka to ‘live and let live’, after Tamil Nadu brought to the notice of the court that the Karnataka chief minister had said that not a drop of water would be released to the state. The court was hearing an application by Tamil Nadu to direct Karnataka to release 50.52 tmc feet of Cauvery water this season. In reply, Karnataka had said it has a deficit of about 80 tmc feet in its four reservoirs.

Karnataka to give 12,000 cusecs/day

The Times of India, Sep 12, 2016

Shailaja Neelakantan

Cauvery row: SC modifies amount of water Karnataka has to release to Tamil Nadu to 12,000 cusecs/day

Earlier, SC had ordered Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs/day of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu

The Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to release to Tamil Nadu, 12,000 cusecs a day of Cauvery water instead of the earlier ordered 15,000 cusecs a day. The court's modified order directed Karnataka to release the water until September 20.

The apex court was hearing an application filed by Karnataka+ seeking a direction to reduce the quantum of water to be released from Cauvery River to Tamil Nadu to 1,000 cusecs from 15,000 cusecs.

After Tamil Nadu pleaded for water to save the samba crop in about 40,000 acres of agricultural fields in the Cauvery delta region, the apex court ordered Karnataka to release+ 15,000 cusecs of water daily for 10 days to the lower-riparian region on. The Karnataka government+ also asked to keep the SC's September 5 order in abeyance until the next hearing date. It justified this request saying that there has been a fault in the Cauvery Water Tribunal award, which does not deal with the issue of deficient water in the reservoir in a particular month. The Karnataka government also requested the apex court to suspend its order because the latter isn't having a water crisis, it said. The " agony claimed by Tamil Nadu+ on the water crisis" doesn't exist, the Karnataka government told the court. The SC refused to keep in abeyance or suspend that order. At the same time, the apex court expressed its displeasure at the Karnataka government for not implementing its order.

SC gives TN 6,000 cusecs of water daily

Dhananjay Mahapatra, SC brushes aside Karnataka plea Sep 21 2016 : The Times of India

Court Gives TN 6,000 Cusecs Of Water Daily

Brushing aside Karnataka's plea that release of any more Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu would plunge Bengaluru into a drinking water crisis, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the state to give 6,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu from September 21to 27.

Karnataka found itself in a piquant situation in the court of Justices Dipak Misra and U U Lalit. It had come to complain that the supervisory committee had no jurisdiction to direct Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water. Even Ta mil Nadu opposed the committee's determination and said not releasing enough water would spell doom for its paddy crop.

Appearing for Karnataka, senior advocate Fali S Nariman said, “I will request the court sincerely not to pass any interim order on this issue. Any interim order now will be a wrong order... Karnataka will not be able to comply with it by cutting into drinking water supply,“ he said.

When Nariman pointed out that Tamil Nadu had over 50 TMC water in Mettur reservoir, Tamil Nadu's lawyer Shekhar Naphade retorted that no water could be released from Mettur unless storage crossed the 50 TMC mark.

When a citizens' group from Bengaluru through Harish Salve attempted to intervene in the matter by flagging the drinking water crisis faced by residents of the state capital, Naphade said, “please don't add another speaker for Karnataka which is trying to bring street violence to the courtroom“.Salve reacted sharply and said, “It is better to intervene here than protest on the streets.“

The bench allowed both the states to file their objections to the supervisory committee's direction within three days and posted the matter for further hearing on September 27. The apex court also asked the Centre on Tuesday to set up Cauvery Management Board to manage distribution of water within four weeks.

Cauvery order unimplementable, says CM

Terming the Supreme Court's order directing Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu till September 27 as “unimplementable“, CM Siddaramaiah has called for a cabinet and an all-party meeting on Wednesday to chalk out the next step. Siddaramaiah appealed to public to maintain peace, while assuring that the government “is committed“ to protect the interest of the state and its people and farmers. “There is a cabinet meeting tomorrow (Wednesday), we will discuss, we are waiting for the copy of the order of the Supreme Court. The (state) cabinet will take a view, meanwhile we will consult legal experts also... I have also called an all-party meeting tomorrow, in that meeting we will discuss the pros and cons of this order. After taking views and opinion of leaders from all parties we will proceed further,“ the Karnataka chief minister said. PTI

See also

Ganga (Ganges), river

Rivers: India