The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) is an institution established as the technical, on-the-ground arm of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA). It was created by the Central Government through a Gazette notification on June 1, 2018, as part of the Cauvery Water Management Scheme. The CWRC was constituted to solve the problem of implementing the water-sharing arrangement among the riparian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry. This institutional mechanism was mandated to give effect to the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT), as modified by the Supreme Court's order dated February 16, 2018.
The CWRC's primary mechanism is the day-to-day monitoring of water management. It collects real-time data on daily water levels, inflows, and storage in designated reservoirs, such as Krishnarajasagara (KRS) and Mettur. The Committee uses this data, along with hydro-meteorological parameters like rainfall, to determine the water availability and is required to meet once every ten days in June and October. The CWRC assists the CWMA in the supervision of reservoir operations and the regulation of water releases, particularly the regulated release by Karnataka at the inter-State contact point, Biligundulu. The CWRC is directly connected to the CWMA, which is a statutory, quasi-judicial body formed under Section 6A of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956. The entire framework replaced earlier, less effective bodies like the Cauvery River Authority (CRA).