The water level in the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) in Mandya district was hovering at 83.9 feet on Friday, which is the lowest for August since 2002.
The full-reservoir level (FRL) is 124.8 ft. Unprecedented drought in 2002 had led to poor inflow and the reservoir level was around 74.7 ft on August 2, 2002, according to officials in Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Ltd.
A similar situation is staring at the authorities this year owing to scanty rainfall in the catchment area of the Cauvery in Kodagu. The cumulative rainfall from June 1 to August 2 in Kodagu is 838 mm, which is 47% below normal.
The inflow into the reservoir on Friday was at the rate of 6,512 cusecs while the outflow was at 9,933 cusecs, according to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).
Of this, water at the rate of 2,911 cusescs was being discharged into the canals while the discharge into the river was pegged at 7,022 cusecs.