India, July 31 -- BENGALURU Karnataka's effort to hold the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu failed on Thursday when the Cauvery Water Management Authority upheld an order requiring the state to ensure a flow of 3,500 cusecs a day for 15 days, despite its warnings that reservoir levels were already under severe pressure from drought.

The CWMA, the apex body overseeing the implementation of inter-state water releases under the Supreme Court's Cauvery verdict, directed Karnataka to comply with the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee's order. The CWRC had ordered Karnataka to begin the release from 8 am on July 29, with the required flow to be measured at Biligundlu on the inter-state boundary.

Karnataka had challenged that direction b...