Karnataka - Madikeri   

Leakage at Kootuhole reservoir proving costly

Madikeri: Madikeri, an area in Kodagu which receives heavy rainfall, has drinking water shortage every summer. The situation worsened last summer when the water sources dried up and citizens were left to fend for themselves. The Madikeri City Municipal Council (CMC) tried to meet the demand by way of supplying water to households through tankers. Madikeri city requires approximately 45 lakh litres of water every day. The CMC has started alternate day water supply in some localities of the city.

The CMC does not seem to have any plan to save water several months ahead of the summer season so that the problem could be tackled in a better way. Rhetoric had flowed from the CMC that leakage of the Kootuhole reservoir would be plugged and the height of the present bund increased and another weir constructed next to the existing bund to save water. However, the promises have not been kept. Large amount of water is cascading down the old bund and all the water is going waste.

The storage capacity of the Kootuhole reservoir is also reducing by the day because of the deposit of silt in its bed. The water-level in other reservoirs is also receding gradually. The level at smaller sources in the city such as Pumpinakere, Roshanara and Kannandabane are not the same as they were during the monsoon.

The Kundamestri project work, to pump water from the Kundamestri stream to the Kootuhole reservoir, has started but it will take a long time to be completed. The CMC had bought time to plug the leakage of water from the Kootuhole reservoir through the earthen bund in the past, but to no avail.

The president of the CMC, P.D. Ponnappa, said works to construct a temporary wall across the present weir would be taken up from Thursday. That would help save water. But, the works for preventing water leakage from the earthen bund of the reservoir would be taken up along with the Kundamestri project, he said. Funds earmarked for the construction of another smaller weir from where the water flowed out from the reservoir was diverted for some other works since the Kundamestri project was coming up, Mr. Ponnappa clarified. The CMC authorities are now busy with the laying of concrete road between Major Muthanna Circle and the private bus-stand and so water shortage seems to have taken a backseat.

Although borewells are main source of water during summer, the CMC is turning a blind eye on people using the borewell water to clean their vehicles. Perhaps a little more care in the usage of water throughout the year could go a long way in helping authorities tackle shortage during the summer months.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

SAI sports promotion scheme withdrawn from school
Leakage at Kootuhole reservoir proving costly

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu