Pumpsets help barrage store water

BAGALKOT: Usually, a reservoir is full of water during the rainy season, but this one is full even during winter. Shrama Bindu Sagar, a barrage built across Krishna river near Jamkhandi town, is a shining example of water management.
It's possible due to the latest technology adopted for maintaining the river water level and filling the tank by using giant pumpsets.
The pioneer of the Chikkapadasalagi barrage is Siddu Nyamagouda, who won the parliamentary election by defeating former CM, Ramakrishna Hegde, and became a Union minister in the Narasimha Rao government.
This barrage was constructed in 1989 with the help of farmers under the banner of Krishna Teera Rait Sangh. Due to farmers' efforts, 3 tmcft of water was stored in the barrage and nearly 30,000 acres were irrigated.
They took one year to complete construction of the barrage which is 430 metres long and 7 metres deep. Farmers bore the entire expenditure of the barrage without any government funds.
With increase in irrigated land from 30,000 acres to 70,000 acres, farmers again faced a water problem. They demanded release of Krishna water from Maharashtra.
Siddu Nyamagoud, along with friends, took another step in 2013-14, which is quite revolutionary for creating an alternative solution - he used 25 pumpsets with 100 hp capacity to raise the height of the barrage by 1.5 metres. During December or January, when the natural inflow of Krishna river reduces, pumpsets are used to lift water into the reservoir.
"Now, 4.3 tmcft water is stored in the barrage. Total expenditure for this work is Rs 11 crore and farmers contributed Rs 2.5 crore. The remaining was taken as an loan," said Siddu Nyamagouda. "With this work, water is stored up to Hipparagi barrage. There will be no shortage of water to farmers for nearly 3-4 months," said farmer Paragouda Patil.