Yettinahole project to begin soon as tenders await approval

Work on the Yettinahole drinking water project to serve the parched central districts of the State is expected to commence shortly at Haravanahalli village in Sakleshpur taluk of Hassan district. Tenders have been called for and they are awaiting the formal approval of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, according to the Department of Water Resources.

Two components

The project will be implemented in two stages and the first phase is expected to cost around Rs. 2,800 crore. The total cost of the project is Rs. 8,300 crore and the first of the tenders is meant for eight packages to build barrages across eight streams, including the Yettinahole, and to lift water to a height of 150 metres.

The project is designed to quench the water-starved districts of Kolar, Chickballapur, Tumkur, Bangalore Rural, Ramanagaram and Bangalore.

Sources said that only 24 tmcft of the 2,000 tmcft of water, which is the total yield of the Netravati, will be utilised for providing water to the five districts and Bangalore. Only up to 300 hectares of forest land is being acquired for the project. The Forest Department would be given alternative land which has been cleared by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, the sources said.

The water lifted would be conveyed over a distance of 288 km through a gravity channel to Byragondlu in Koratagere taluk of Tumkur district where a tank would be replaced by a new reservoir to be built to store 5.78 tmcft of water. From here, water would be further channelled to the Tippagondana Halli reservoir, Hesaraghatta tank and Manchanabele reservoir covering towns in Tumkur district, Bangalore Rural, Devanahalli and Ramanagaram district.

‘Ecology won’t be hit’

The Water Department sources said that the project would not affect the eco-system in the coastal areas as feared by some environmentalists as water is drawn from eight streams during the rainy season from June to November and stored in the reservoirs and tanks to fulfil water needs during the summer. While Kolar needs one tmcft of water now, it will gradually utilise 2.8 tmcft after 20 years.