Chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday offered the traditional “bagina” (offering to the river) to Cauvery river at the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam in Srirangapatna taluk of Mandya district, following a surge in inflow that filled the 84-year-old reservoir to its full capacity of 124.8 feet in June — a first since its construction.
According to officials from Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd (CNNL), this is the earliest the dam has ever reached full reservoir level since 1958, breaking the previous June record set on July 15 that year. The last time the dam reached capacity this early was on July 13, 1973. “From 1958, the level reached its optimum level 12 times in July; 15 times in August; four times in September; six times in October and once in November,” they said.
Siddaramaiah was joined by deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, Mandya district in-charge minister N Chaluvarayaswamy and social welfare minister HC Mahadevappa at the Bagina ritual.
According to CNNL, the KRS dam saw a sharp increase in water level from 103.70 ft on June 1 — shortly after the monsoon began on May 28 — to the full 124.8 ft by June 29. Between June 1 and 29, dams in the Cauvery basin received 73.4 TMC of inflow and released 41.3 TMC. As of June 28, all reservoirs in the basin held 89% of their total capacity (101.52 TMC out of 114.57 TMC), compared to just 45.02 TMC during the same period last year, it said.
It further said that the dam remained full for 172 days in the previous water year (June 2024 to May 2025), the longest period in 25 years, from July 21, 2024, to January 12, 2025. The KRS failed to reach full capacity in nine years since 2016, including as recently as 2023.
{{/usCountry}}It further said that the dam remained full for 172 days in the previous water year (June 2024 to May 2025), the longest period in 25 years, from July 21, 2024, to January 12, 2025. The KRS failed to reach full capacity in nine years since 2016, including as recently as 2023.
{{/usCountry}}This year’s early monsoon and consistent rainfall in both the Cauvery basin and neighbouring Kerala have led to heavy inflows across the region. On Saturday, the KRS received 73,811 cusecs, and 52,829 cusecs on Friday. Outflows were managed to maintain water levels ahead of the ritual.
Following the KRS event, Siddaramaiah will likely offer bagina at the Kabini reservoir in HD Kote, Mysuru district, soon. Kabini is currently at 692.63 ft, just shy of its full level of 694.74 ft. Reservoirs across Karnataka have seen above-average storage this year. The Almatti dam on the Krishna river, for instance, was receiving an inflow of 110,000 cusecs as of this week, with a current storage of 85.19 TMC against a full capacity of 123.08 TMC. Water levels are expected to rise further with continued rain in Krishna’s catchment in Maharashtra.
While southern and coastal Karnataka received heavy rains in recent weeks, districts like Bengaluru Urban continue to report rainfall deficits.
However, weather forecasts suggest a brief lull in rain over the coming week after two weeks of intense showers.