Mekedatu multi-purpose project

Mekedatu multi-purpose project

Subject: Geography

Context: On July 6, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said in Bengaluru that his government would go ahead with the long-pending Mekedatu dam project in the Cauvery Basin

Concept:

• The Mekedatu multi-purpose project involves building a balancing reservoir across the Cauvery River near Kanakapura in Ramanagaram district.
• It envisages supplying drinking water to Bengaluru and Ramanagaram districts, besides generation of power.
• The project was conceived in 2013 and in 2017, the Karnataka state cabinet decided to implement it.
• The project, however, ran into a controversy after Tamil Nadu opposed it on the grounds that the project violates the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award.

The Cauvery River

• The Cauvery River (Kaveri) is designated as the ‘Dakshina Ganga’ or ‘the Ganga of the South’.
• The Cauvery River rises at an elevation of 1,341 m at Talakaveri on the Brahmagiri range near Cherangala village of Kodagu (Coorg) district of Karnataka.
• The total length of the river from origin to an outfall is 800 km.
• It flows in a southeasterly direction for 705 km through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and descends the Eastern Ghats in a series of great falls.
• Left Bank: the Harangi, the Hemavati, the Shimsha, and the Arkavati.
• Right Bank: Lakshmantirtha, the Kabbani, the Suvarnavati, the Bhavani, the Noyil, and the Amaravati joins from the right.
• At Hogennekkal Falls, it takes a Southerly direction and enters the Mettur Reservoir.
• A tributary called Bhavani joins Cauvery on the Right bank about 45 Kms below Mettur Reservoir. Thereafter it enters the plains of Tamil Nadu.

• Two more tributaries Noyil and Amaravathi join on the right bankand here the river widens with a sandy bed and flows as ‘Akhanda Cauvery
• Many projects were completed in this basin which
  • Included Krishnarajasagar in Karnataka, Mettur dam and Cauvery delta system in Tamil Nadu. LowerBhavani, Hemavati, Harangi, Kabini are important projects completed duing the plan period.