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Concern over scarcity of water in Mysore

Staff Correspondent

Water level reducing rapidly each day

Going dry: The continued release of water from the KRS reservoir may lead to a shortage of drinking water supply to Mysore and Bangalore. — PHOTO: M.A. Sriram

MYSORE: The release of water from the Krishnarajasagar Reservoir to irrigate the standing crops in Mandya has raised fresh concern over the scarcity of drinking water in Mysore and Bangalore during the summer.

With the water outflow from the reservoir into the Visveswaraya canal crossing 2,500 cusecs on Monday and Tuesday, the Water Supply and Sanitary Working Group of the Mysore Agenda Task Force (MATF) fears that the storage level at the KRS reservoir will come down by one tmcft every four days if water is released in such a huge quantities for irrigation.

The storage in the reservoir is 7.18 tmcft out of which 4.4 tmcft is dead storage. Hence, the amount of water that can be drawn from the reservoir is only 2.78 tmcft.

Till June end, when the monsoon is expected to hit the State and fill the reservoir, Mysore city requires 0.6 tmcft and Bangalore requires 1.8 tmcft to meet the drinking water requirements of its residents.

Also, Pandavapura, Srirangapatna and Mandya require at least 0.4 tmcft for drinking water supply.

`No need for panic'

However, the Mayor, Dakshina Murthy, told The Hindu that there is no need for panic over the drinking water scarcity, as one tmcft of water that was released from the upstream Harangi reservoir will start reaching the KRS reservoir shortly. "The water from the Harangi dam will compensate for the water released from the KRS reservoir for irrigation to Mandya," he said.

Quoting Thimme Gowda, Managing Director of the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam, which controls the release of water from the reservoir, Mr. Murthy said the water released from the KRS reservoir is in accordance with the water release time table drawn out by the Irrigation Consultative Committee.

Mr. Gowda had written a letter to Mr. Murthy after the latter threatened to lead a delegation from the city to the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, to draw his attention to the release of water from KRS to irrigate crops in Mandya, jeopardising the drinking water requirements of residents in the city.

Water supply promised

In the letter, Mr. Gowda had reportedly tried to convince the Mayor that the Nigam's decision to release water to Mandya should not be considered discriminatory.

Mr. Gowda had reportedly promised to ensure drinking water supply to Mysore till the onset of the monsoon in June.

The Mayor, who had earlier criticised the Nigam's decision to release water for irrigation purposes in Mandya, said he will lead a delegation of all 65 corporators to the reservoir and the pumping stations at Belagola, Hongalli and Melapura for an on-the-spot inspection in the next few days.

It may be recalled that Cauvery Neeravari Nigam had released two tmcft of water from the Hemavathi a few days after the Mayor reacted to the release of water from the KRS.

But, the water released from the Hemavathi has also been released for irrigating fields in Mandya.

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