With the water level in the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) dam further plummeting on Thursday, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) was forced to stop pumping of water from 15 of the 60 pumps at Thorekadanahalli, Harohalli and Tataguni.
This brought down the total water of 1,150 million litres of water per day (mld) drawn through all the four stages of Cauvery by nearly 200 mld, making it inevitable for the officials to cut down on supply hours in some areas. The city’s daily requirement is 1,250 mld.
On Wednesday, officials had expressed helplessness over the impending water crisis as the live storage level at KRS stood at 1.03 tmcft. This was just enough to meet the drinking water needs of Bangalore for the next 20 days, they had said. Although the Irrigation Department had released a total of 1 tmcft from the Hemavathi, only 50 per cent of the released water had reached KRS because of various hitches en route. A top official said work on clearing them had started on Thursday.
“With some parts of Karnataka receiving rain from Wednesday, we hope and pray that monsoon will set in early. Because only the rain gods can come to our rescue now,” the official added.
