In view of the unprecedented water crisis following the fall in the water-level in the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS), Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday directed the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd. (CNNL) and the Water Resources Department to ensure that drinking water supply to the city was not hit at any cost.
The Chief Minister, who convened a meeting of officials on Friday evening, said water would be drawn from other reservoirs, if required, to meet the city’s needs. A joint committee of the BWSSB and CNNL officials would be set up to monitor the situation on a day-to-day basis, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, appealing to people not to panic.
During the meeting, a team of BWSSB officials, led by chairperson Gaurav Gupta, made a detailed presentation on the present scenario and appealed to the Chief Minister to ensure that there was adequate flow of water to the KRS. The board, which was so far drawing 1,150 million litres of water per day (mld) through all the four stages of the Cauvery, is now drawing only 835 mld.
Availability
The daily requirement of water for the city is 600 cusecs. This translates to monthly requirement of 1.5 tmcft, and an annual requirement of 19 tmcft. Although water has been discharged from the KRS, the quantum available for the BWSSB at Shiva Anicut, near Thorekadanahalli, across the Cauvery has reduced considerably in the last few days. The availability of water has reduced to 280 cusecs against the normal 600 cusecs. This has led to an alarming situation, the team informed the Chief Minister.
Pointing out that the failure of the monsoon, and release of water to Tamil Nadu as per the directions of the Supreme Court led to this unprecedented crisis, the officials said the BWSSB was in constant touch with the Water Resources Department to ensure that supply to the city was not hit.
With the Thippagondanahalli reservoir, from where 35 mld of water was being drawn to the city till recently, drying up in November, the Cauvery is the only source for the city’s daily supply of 1,150 mld, the Chief Minister was informed.
The Kabini reservoir has also been exhausted and at present, water is being released by the Water Resources Department from KRS only. The water-level in KRS has also gone down over the last few months. On Friday, the water-level was at about 64 ft (Last year, the water-level on same date was 82 ft.) and the live storage in the dam was less than 1 tmcft.
Water from the Hemavati reservoir has been released in past 10 days to supplement the storage in the KRS, Mr. Siddaramaiah was informed.
