Chikkamagaluru: In the absence of rain, the river Hemavathy has little water this season, badly hitting the storage of the Hemavathy reservoir in Gorur Hassan, which is still only half- filled.
The reservoir has a mere 20 tmc ft of water as against its capacity to store 37 tmc ft. “The reservoir usually fills up fast due to rain in its catchment area, but over the last couple of years it is filling up rather late owing to the poor rainfall,” said reservoir officials.
A tributary of the Cauvery, the Hemavathy winds its way through Balur, Mudigere, Sakleshpur and Holenarsipur before culminating at Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam near Mysuru.
A coffee planter, Madhav Gurjer, from Javali village, where the river originates, says rainfall has reduced sharply here over the years, affecting the flow of the river. Once the water from the hillocks came gushing down and was heard by people quite a distance away , according to him. But now the deficient rainfall is affecting even the cropping pattern in the region, he reveals.
Mr Gurjer’s family has built a Ganesha temple at the spot where the river originates and its priest, Nagendra Karanth, who collects rainfall data, says the region received 120 to 130 inches of rain around this time of the year in the past, but is now recording a mere 40 inches of rain.
“Once the flow of water into the river from the hillocks never stopped, even during summer, but this monsoon, the flow has stopped completely for the first time, “ the priest observed with concern.
