Raising the issue during the zero hour in the Lok Sabha on Monday, AIADMK member from Pollachi K. Sugumar said that Karnataka was also trying to divert the flow of the river to its territory depriving of the benefit to Tamil Nadu.

The construction of the check dam and diversion of water of Thenpennai by the Karnataka Government would affect Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai, Villupuram and Cuddalore districts in his State, he said.Karnataka had not communicated to Tamil Nadu about the proposal and also had not sought its consent.

A day after demanding a meeting of the Cauvery River Water Authority, Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Sunday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ask Karnataka to stop “forthwith the execution of any check dams or diversion structures across the Pennaiyar river”.

“I understand the government of Karnataka has proposed to construct check dams and diversion structures across the Pennaiyar river, which is causing great alarm and apprehension in Tamil Nadu

Charging Karnataka with “unjustly utilising” Cauvery water for summer irrigation, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, today asked the Prime Minister, Dr Manmhohan Singh, to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority to discuss the issue.

Karnataka has been “unjustly utilising” the water for summer irrigation from February to May by depleting the storage in its four major reservoirs, she said in a letter to Dr Singh.

Reservoirs' storage

CHENNAI: Charging Karnataka with "unjustly utilising" Cauvery water for summer irrigation, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today asked Prime Minister Manmhohan Singh to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority to discuss the issue.

Karnataka has been unjustly utilising the water for summer irrigation from February to May by depleting storage in its four major reservoirs, she said in a letter to Singh.

Bridge across Cauvery to carry pipelines nearing completion

The Tiruchi Corporation is set to commence work on laying the pipelines across the Cauvery river, a crucial phase in the execution of new drinking water augmentation scheme for the city. Once the pumping mains are laid across the bridge, the corporation would be able to start pumping water from all the three collector wells of the Rs.221.42 crore drinking water supply augmentation scheme. The three collector wells for the new water scheme on the Coleroon river bed at Melur near Srirangam are ready already.

P.M.Natarajan, Working Group member, Planning Commission, Government of Tamil Nadu, and a noted geologist, has welcomed the proposed Rs.1,560 crore-project to refurbish old tail-end sluices and construct new ones in the Cauvery delta which would facilitate groundwater recharge and arrest sea water intrusion. The proposal was announced by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the Assembly on May 7. “It is a good water management approach to improve entire irrigation command including tail end,” he told The Hindu here on Wednesday.

To refurbish old tail-end sluices and construct new ones

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday unveiled a Rs 1,560-crore project to refurbish old tail-end sluices and construct new ones in the Cauvery delta districts to conserve rainwater during the monsoon and take measures to prevent incursion of sea water into agriculture lands. “Of the total Rs. 1,560 crore, Asian Development Bank will give Rs 1,092 crore as loan and the rest will be contributed by the State government,” Ms. Jayalalithaa said in a suo motu statement in the Assembly.

Water woes for Bangaloreans will continue with fresh government data demonstrating that the current level of water supply in India's IT capital is almost four thousand million cubic metre short of the requirement, exposing 22 lakh people to water scarcity every year.

Every drop countsThe shortfall is in the prevailing situation. If City aquifers become barren due to over-exploitation, an additional 24 lakh will have a tough time getting their daily water supply from civic authorities, geologists have forewarned. The warning is based on water data collected by the Karnataka government's mines and geology department from 10 deep wells in Bangalore, between April and December 2011.

The detention of a lorry carrying untreated effluents from a textile processing unit in Perundurai on Sunday has once again brought to light the lack of effective mechanism in the district to prevent the processing units from dumping their waste in the water sources.

In the preliminary inquiry, it was revealed that the vehicle was used to transport toxic effluents and dump them in the Cauvery River and other water sources.
It was said that many units in Perundurai and other parts of the district were continuing the practice of transporting the untreated effluents in tankers and discharging them in the water sources.

These hydro projects have capacities exceeding 25MW

As many as 24 hydro power projects, having capacity above 25 MW, are pending for want of environmental and forest clearances, Minister of State for Power K C Venugopal said today. "Twenty four hydro electric projects (installed capacity above 25 MW), which have been accorded concurrence by the Central Electricity Authority are pending for want of environmental and/or forest clearance," the Minister said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.