Kushalnagar: Water was released from KRS Dam for the first time this year yesterday evening, with the Dam authorities initially releasing 5,000 cusecs and later stepping from 15,000 cusecs to 30,000 cusecs. The outflow is expected to gradually increase based on the inflow in the coming days.

Before the release, a flood alert was issued to residents of low-lying areas downstream, advising them to move to safer locations as a precautionary measure.

Interestingly, since the construction of the KRS Dam — which began in 1911 and was completed in 1932 — water has been released in June only twice: In 1941 and now in 2025, after an 84-year gap.

Typically, the Dam, considered the lifeline of South Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, releases water during July, August or September, once the reservoir reaches its full capacity of 124.80 feet.

This year, due to abundant rainfall in the Cauvery River basin, the Dam has seen significant inflows. Remarkably, in 2025, the water level reached the 100-ft mark on May 30, just after the peak summer, a rare occurrence.

This is only the second time in the past 35 years (since 1990) that the Dam has reached this level in May. According to officials from the Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Limited (CNNL), the last such instance was on May 11, 2022. Ordinarily, the Dam reaches the 100-ft mark only between June and July.

The substantial inflow can be attributed mainly to the above-average rainfall in the catchment areas of Kodagu district.

From January to June 23, 2025, Kodagu received 1,171 mm of rainfall against the normal 615 mm, marking a 90 percent increase. Notably, in May 2025, the district was expected to receive 138 mm but recorded 609 mm — a staggering 340 percent increase.

This trend continued in June as well. Between June 1 and June 23 (yesterday), Kodagu received 421 mm of rainfall compared to the normal 352 mm, registering an increase of 16 percent.

This excessive rainfall has significantly raised water levels in the Harangi, Hemavathi, KRS and Kabini reservoirs within the Cauvery basin.

From June 1 to June 23 alone, the cumulative inflow to the KRS Dam was 23 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet), averaging about 1 tmcft per day. Similar inflow volumes were recorded in June of 2018 and 2015.

KRS Dam level and storage as on June 24: 5-year data

Year	Feet	tmcft
2025	120.78	44.041
2024	87.631	14.59
2023	77.69	9.81
2022	106.5	28.35
2021	94.98	19.14
2020	95.735	19.66