The Hindu 16.05.2013
City has water enough for just 20 days
Bangaloreans, prepare to face severe water shortage in
the coming weeks. The existing live storage level at the Krishnaraja
Sagar (KRS) dam — which stood at 1.03 tmcft (thousand million cubic
feet) as on Wednesday — is just enough to meet the city’s drinking water
needs for the next 20 days.
Plummeting levels
Following
plummeting levels, water drawn by the Bangalore Water Supply and
Sewerage Board (BWSSB) from the Cauvery has also fallen by 100 million
litres per day (mld) in the last 24 hours as of Wednesday evening. BWSSB
was drawing 1,150 mld till Monday. “We had to cut the drawing limit to
maintain the levels in our reservoirs. This is the first time we are
facing such a severe scarcity since BWSSB’s inception in 1964. Only rain
can help resolve the situation,” said a top BWSSB official.
Hemavathi problems
Following
BWSSB’s request, Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd. has been releasing an
average 800 cusecs for the last few days so that the storage level at
KRS can be maintained. “As this too is not enough, a total of one tmcft
has also been released from the Hemavathi in the last four days. But all
the water has not reached the dam because of sand mining and
encroachments along the river line. Although we had requested more
water, the Irrigation Department stopped release of water from
Wednesday,” said an official in charge of Cauvery projects.
Although
water shortage is routine every summer, the official said the release
of 2.4 tmcft water to Tamil Nadu following the Supreme Court’s
directions in February has turned out to be disadvantageous to
Bangalore.
CM briefed
Predicting
that the city will plunge into unprecedented water crisis if it doesn’t
rain in the next few days, the official said at least 2.6 tmcft water
is needed to cope till the monsoon arrives. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah
has also been briefed, the official said.
“If more
water from the Hemavathi is not released, we may have to draw water from
the dead storage. This requires preparation and precautions as it will
be the first time that the dead storage will be touched,” the official
said.
Pointing out that Bangalore needs 1,250 mld, he
appealed to people to use water judiciously. “We also want people to
come up with suggestions on how to manage the situation,” he added.
Bangalore stares at drought-like scenario.
