While the summer has just set in, the water-level in the Alamatti dam across the Krishna has gone down considerably owing increased evaporation because of rising temperature.
Another reason for the dip in the water-level is constant supply to the Raichur Thermal Power Station.
According to sources, the water-level in the reservoir was 508.6 metres on Saturday against the full-reservoir level of 519.6 metres. The reservoir has 21.03 tmcft of water against the gross storage of 123 tmcft.
Water from the reservoir is supplied to villages in Bijapur and Bagalkot districts and also to 30 rehabilitated villages through jack-wells. With the fall in the water-level, the jack-wells are empty now.
Inflow into the reservoir stopped in October last year though normally it used to continue till December. This is also being attributed as one of the reasons for the early reduction in the water-level.
Farmers of Jamkhandi taluk in Bagalkot district have demanded that the government release water from the Hipparagi reservoir to the Chikkapadasalagi barrage, which has dried up resulting in severe water problem in some 30 villages.
The farmers said that as the Hipparagi dam had around 1.83 tmcft of water, the government should get at least 0.5 tmcft of water released to the Chikkapadasalagi barrage so as to mitigate drinking water problem and protect standing commercial crops such as sugarcane. The farmers have urged Jamkhandi MLA Siddu Nyamagouda to come to their rescue.
