Tears virtually the lone 'source' of water in three districts

Several areas in the State have received rain in the past few days. But water-deficit regions in the Bengaluru Rural, Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts are staring at what is called permanent hydrological drought.

Groundwater is overexploited in most taluks of these districts. Hydrological drought is due to decrease in the availability of water from all sources: surface, stream flow, lake and reservoir, groundwater.

Srinivas Reddy, director of the Disaster Management Cell, told Deccan Herald that Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts, which primarily depend on groundwater, may face a grave situation in the coming months with absolutely no reprieve from drought conditions.

“We are seeing in these taluks repeated instances of drought. Several of the tanks and lakes in the taluks have not had water for a long time. With no rainfall for consecutive years, the taluks are seeing a change in the hydrological conditions,” said Reddy.

With the groundwater levels depleted up to 1,300 to 2,000 feet below the ground, water availability has become rare. The present pre-monsoon showers will have to be consistent in these districts for even a semblance of rejuvenation of ground water. The taluks which are staring at a permanent hydrological drought are Chikkaballapur, Chintamani, Gauribidanur, Gudibande and Shidlaghatta of Chikkaballapur district and Bangarpet, Kolar, Malur, Mulbagal and Srinivaspur of Kolar district.

Reservoir levels

Meanwhile, reservoir levels have depleted across the State. But the situation is not as bad as last year, said Reddy.

“Compared to last year, we have an extra two to three tmc feet in the reservoirs of Cauvery basin, and by almost the same amount in the other reservoirs. This should address drinking water concerns till the arrival of monsoon in June. The only concern is the Almatti dam, where the water level is lower than the previous year,” said Reddy. He said that in case the water levels do not rise in the Krishna river basin, there is always the option for the government to seek two or three tmc feet of water from Maharashtra.

On whether the pre-monsoon showers will have any bearing on the monsoon, Reddy said that it was too early to make predictions. It is expected that a proper forecast for the monsoon will be prepared by the end of April.

Name of     Gross storage     Present storage*
the reservoir    capacity (tmc feet)    (tmc feet)
Linganamakki    151.75    45.45
Supa    145.33    63.52
Hemavathi    37.10    5.92
KRS    49.45    19.63
Kabini    19.52    12.07
Bhadra    71.53    39.23
Almatti    123.08    21.03
Narayanapura    33.31    13.70
as on April 10