BENGALURU: While the city gets some relief with brief showers over the weekend, releasing Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu is proving costly for the state. Thought the water levels at some of the major reservoirs in Karnataka have decreased steeply, the outflow remains high, with no signs of any increase in the inflow. According to BWSSB officials, the water level at KRS dam, the only source of water to the city, has reached 16 TMC feet water. A senior official maintained that water level is steadily decreasing at the reservoir since September 7, the day Tamil Nadu started getting water.
“Although on paper it looks like we have 16 TMC feet water, nearly 5 feet of it is dead storage, which means it cannot be used for any primary purpose. While the condition continues to be worrisome for the city, the situation is no good for other cities which depend on Kabini, Hemavati or Harangi reservoirs,” the official said.
While the other major reservoirs - Kabini and Hemavati - have less than 13 TMC feet water, Harangi reservoir has seen steep decrease by at least 2 TMC feet water in the last couple of days, the official maintained. “The water level at Harangi reservoir was 8.5 TMC feet a few days ago, but has reduced to 6 feet now. The water levels at all these reservoirs have been worryingly low. With poor monsoon this year, it's a challenge to survive through the summer,” the official said.
Will city have enough water?
Further, the official maintained that as of now the BWSSB was confident that there would be no drinking water crisis till December, but with current decrease in water levels it was tough to push through the months. “There’s no crisis and nothing to worry for now. We can only hope there will be rains in the coming months and we will be able to manage the summer months,” the official added.
