As many as 29 villages in the district are facing acute shortage of drinking water owing to severe drought for the third consecutive year.
Of the seven taluks in the district, Nagamangala is the worst-hit, with 25 villages facing a severe water crisis owing to the depletion of the groundwater table, say officials at the Rural Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Wing of the Mandya Zilla Panchayat (ZP).
Consequently, the ZP has hired tankers to supply water to these villages and two others – Chikkaharanahalli and Nagaraghatta – in K.R. Pet taluk.
“We have also supplying potable water to six villages – 1 in Pandavapura, 1 in Malavalli and 4 in Nagamangala taluk – through private borewells,” Chandrahas, Executive Engineer of the Wing, said.
Speaking to The Hindu on Sunday, Mr. Chandrahas added that the panchayat has decided to solve the issue through various measures such as drilling or recharging borewells and implementing multi-village drinking water supply schemes.
Around 75 borewells were drilled in the crisis-hit villages in the district in the last two months. Of them, 25 have failed to yield water.
Control rooms
Control rooms have been set up in all seven taluk headquarters and one has been set up at the Deputy Commissioner’s office (08232-224655) to receive complaints on the drinking water crisis. The control room numbers at taluk headquarters are K.R. Pet: 08230-262227, Maddur: 08232-232010, Malavalli: 08231-242277, Pandavapura: 08236-255128, Srirangapatna: 08236-252029, Mandya: 08232-224048 and Nagamangala: 08234-286033.
