Karnataka - Bellary   

Bellary hit by water scarcity

BELLARY: For the first time in the recent past, Bellary city is facing a severe drinking water crisis. This is attributed to an improper internal distribution system being handled by the Bellary City Corporation.

As of now water is being supplied once in five days, and it will soon be available only once a week as the city has to manage with the water available in the Allipur and Moka reservoirs till replenishment comes from the Tungabhadra.

The Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board is the main supplier of water from the two reservoirs, while internal distribution is being looked after by the corporation. The present water-level in the Allipur reservoir is 1.27 metres while the Moka reservoir has a water-level of 4.15 metres).

A senior official in the Board told The Hindu that on an average around 38 million litres of water was drawn every day from both the reservoirs and supplied to Bellary city. “With the current quantum of water being drawn every day, there should not be any difficulty supplying water at least once in two days. But there appears to be some problem in the internal distribution system as water is being supplied once in five days,” the official said.

G. Somashekar Reddy, Bellary city MLA, after visiting the two reservoirs and holding discussions with officials, reprimanded them for their inability to ensure adequate inflow of water into the reservoirs before the canals went dry. Stating that the supply of drinking water once a week was the only way to ensure that the water in the reservoirs lasted till the canals were reopened, Mr. Reddy urged the people to cooperate for the time being.

Basavaraj Alegaon, executive engineer, told The Hindu that the early closure of the high-level and low-level canals was the main reason for the minimal water-level in the reservoirs. He said Bellary could be given water from the reservoirs till the end of June, and in order to ensure that water was available till July 15 (when the canals are expected to be opened), the Board proposed to make use of three pumpsets to draw water from the dead storage in the reservoirs. The Deputy Commissioner had already released Rs. 30 lakh so that the proposal could be implemented.

Mr. Alegaon said that in order to overcome the problem in future, the Board had come out with another proposal to lay a separate pipeline with pumping infrastructure to fill the Allipur reservoir. This would cost around Rs. 17.5 crore. The board was awaiting clearance from the Government as well as release of funds for implementation.

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