Holding members of the Irrigation Consultation Committee (ICC) responsible for acute drinking water problem in Vijayapura city, Vishwanath Bhavi, veteran activist and president of Neeru Beku Samiti, has said that the decision of the ICC to release water from Almatti dam for rabi crops had led to depletion of water in the dam.
Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, he said that it has been a practice that ICC released water for irrigation only during the kharif season and not rabi crops. He said that releasing water for rabi crops had led to shortage of water in the Almatti dam which is the main source of drinking water for Vijayapura city.
“Without any reason, the ICC recklessly released water for irrigation during the rabi season against the normal practice, due to which the city is facing acute water shortage. People here are suffering as they are receiving water only once in 10 days,” Mr. Bhavi said.
He said that the government must ensure that the water level in Almatti dam does not fall below 506 m which would help provide drinking water to the city.
He said that the Kolhar jackwell has largely gone dry with water left only in some ponds.
About the decision of Krishna Bhagya Jal Nigam Limited to lift one tmcft of water for Kolhar jackwell as a temporary solution at a cost of ₹ 2.5 crore, Mr. Bhavi said that it was an ill-conceived and impractical solution.
“The distance between the Almatti backwaters and Kolhar jackwell is around 25 km. Water if lifted will not completely reach the jackwell. Moreover, many farmers would illegally draw water to their fields in between. So the proposal has no feasibility,” he said.
On the proposed plan of the Water Resources Ministry to lay a pipeline close to dead storage level in the Almatti dam for supplying drinking water, Mr. Bhavi said that it was also not a wise decision as dead storage is normally filled with silt which may choke the pipes.
