Bengaluru: Farmers of Mandya and Mysuru may have to give up the cultivation of paddy and other crops in view of non-availability of water in Krishna Raja Sagar(KRS) dam following failure of the monsoon this year.
Currently, KRS dam has hardly 10.01 tmcft water with inflow of just 1,185 cusecs of water. The city of Bengaluru requires 18-19 tmcft followed by Mysuru city which needs 3 tmcft. Cities enroute like Mandya, Maddur, Chennapatna and Ramanagar also rely on Cauvery water.
Mr B. Shivashankar, chief engineer (south), told mediapersons that during a normal monsoon, KRS should have 63.5 tmcft, Kabini 36.91 tmcft, Harangi 27.88 tmcft and Hemavathi 31.5 tmcft. Put together, the storage would be 159.91 Tmcft. At present, the storage is just 29.86 tmcft which includes 10.01 tmcft in KRS, 8.029 tmcft in Kabini, 5.121 tmcft in Harangi and 6.33 tmcft in Hemavathi. The inflow into the four reservoirs on Monday was 9,344 cusecs and outflow was 720 cusecs.
A visit to the dam site by a media team revealed how bad the situation was . There were stones everywhere in KRS dam with water hardly visible. The sluice gates had been left open with no water in the dam. There was a light drizzle but it did not even leave the earth damp.
The dam authorities said the command area of the KRS was around 3 lakh acres in Mandya and Mysuru districts where paddy is a major crop. Seeing the present condition of the dam, there may not be any release of water from KRS into canals. The water available in the dam would be only used for drinking in Bengaluru, Mysuru and other cities.
The government has declared an agriculture holiday this year owing to poor storage in dams. Good rains alone can save the standing crops. A thick security blanket has been thrown around the dam since September 5.
Hopes of Hemavathi farmers fade as monsoon plays truant
The condition of farmers in Hassan district is no better than that of their counterparts in Mandya and Tumakuru.
The failure of rains this year has not only denied them water for agricultural purposes but also caused an acute shortage of drinking water.
The road to Hemavathi reservoir from Hassan presents a sorry picture with crops on acres and acres of agricultural fields drying up for want of water.
Water has also stopped flowing into the main and sub-canal from the dam with the remaining storage preserved to meet the drinking water needs of Hassan city, Arkalgud, Holenarasipur, Chennarayapatna, KR Pet and nearby villages
Sixty-year-old Eraiah of Hebbal village said he had invested Rs 10,000 to cultivate jowar and maize on his 1.5 acres of land. The crops are now drying up due to non-release of water into the canal.
“I took a loan to grow the crop but it is drying up in front of my eyes for want of water. I am not a rich farmer who can install an irrigation pumpset and more importantly, I am not sure of the water it will yield,” he added.
Mr Sreenath, AEE, Hemavathi Dam sub-division told reporters that the impounded water in the dam would not be released for irrigation and would be preserved for drinking purposes. The full capacity of the dam is 37.10 tmcft but the present storage is hardly 7.67 tmcft of which 3.303 tmcft water is live storage.
The farmers have to strive hard to manage with the current water storage till June next year.
The dam irrigate 6.55 lakh acres through flow irrigation and 45756 acres through lift irrigation in Hassan, Mysuru, Mandya and Tumakuru districts. The dam has not filled to the brim since 2014.
