Abstract:   Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have long been in conflict over the Cauvery water dispute which is one of the most emotionally charged disagreements within India. The tradition of examining this issue relies on law, politics and nature, but this work takes a psychological approach to understand the emotional aspects of the dispute. In general, the project seeks to look at (1) how society views the Cauvery water crisis, (2) how people in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu think and feel about it and (3) how news media shapes their reactions. The data were collected from both states by means of a defined questionnaire and then Chi-square, ANOVA and regression analysis were used on SPSS. The analysis identified that people’s public feelings and attitudes varied a lot from one state to another and that media was a strong driver in shaping their emotions. By studying this, it became clear that empathetic communication and careful reporting by the media support the process of solving conflicts related to water.