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30 Jul 2026GEOGRAPHY3 questions

A Dam Two States Cannot Agree On: Mekedatu and the Limits of Cauvery Water-Sharing

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Article summary

The long-running dispute over the proposed Mekedatu balancing reservoir and drinking-water project returned to prominence as legal and legislative manoeuvres in Tamil Nadu — including an amended Assembly resolution opposing the project and a related writ petition before the Madras High Court — underscored the state's continued objection to Karnataka's plan. Mekedatu is a site on the Cauvery river in Karnataka, near the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border, where Karnataka proposes a reservoir to supply drinking water to Bengaluru and generate power. Tamil Nadu, the lower riparian state, opposes it, fearing the reservoir would let Karnataka regulate flows and reduce the water reaching Tamil Nadu's delta farmers. The dispute sits within the wider Cauvery water-sharing conflict, one of India's oldest inter-state river disputes, governed by the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 and adjudicated by a tribunal whose award the Supreme Court modified in 2018, with a Cauvery Water Management Authority overseeing implementation.

What this tests

recallTests whether you read the article and retained key facts.
1Q
applicationTests whether you can apply the concept to a new scenario.
1Q
analysisTests whether you can reason across multiple related facts.
1Q

Sample questions — answers revealed after test

GEOGRAPHYRecallEasy

Q1. Which of the following correctly describes the course of the Cauvery (Kaveri) river?

AIt rises in the Himalayas and flows west into the Arabian Sea.
BIt rises in the Western Ghats in Karnataka and flows generally south-east through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu into the Bay of Bengal.
CIt rises in the Eastern Ghats and flows north into the Ganga.
DIt is a Himalayan tributary of the Godavari.
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GEOGRAPHYApplicationMedium

Q2. Why does the article describe an upstream State's dam project as inherently threatening to the downstream State on a shared river?

ABecause a dam physically diverts the river out of its basin into another country.
BBecause the upper riparian gains greater control over the timing and quantity of water released, and the lower riparian fears reduced or less predictable flows, especially in lean years.
CBecause dams always cause the river to dry up completely downstream.
DBecause downstream States are constitutionally barred from using river water.
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GEOGRAPHYAnalysisHard

Q3. Consider the following statements about inter-state river water disputes in India: 1. Water is a State subject, but the regulation of inter-state rivers falls within the Union's competence, and Parliament can provide for the adjudication of such disputes. 2. Inter-state river water disputes referred to a tribunal are, by a constitutional provision, kept outside the ordinary jurisdiction of the courts. 3. Because a tribunal has issued a final award on the Cauvery, no further litigation or inter-state friction over specific projects is possible. Which of the statements given above are correct?

A1 and 2 only
B1 only
C2 and 3 only
D1, 2 and 3
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