Future tense as Almatti goes dry

It’s become a daily struggle for water for people in the district.

The temperature in the district has touched 40 degrees Celsius. The water level plunging to rock bottom in the Krishna, Ghataprabha and Malaprabha rivers has only compounded the problem. The Almatti reservoir across the Krishna has also gone dry.

 It is, perhaps, for the first time that there is a drinking water problem in the district since the construction of the Almatti dam almost a decade ago.

People carrying pots to fetch water from wherever it is available has become a common sight. It is now a challenge for sugarcane farmers to protect the crop grown on more than one lakh acres. It is an utter shortage of water for people in Rabakavi, Banahatti and Teradal towns, while the other towns and cities are just making do with the supply they get once in three or four days. 

The Krishna river - which helped water the sugarcane and turmeric crops - besides meeting the drinking water needs of humans and cattle went dry in January itself this year. 

The fact that the water table has touched the nadir has not helped matters. Whatever is available in the borewells is hard water and not fit for drinking.  The drinking water problem may aggravate in Jamakhandi, Bilagi, Mudhol, Badami and Bagalkot as there is not enough water in the Hidkal and Naviluteertha reservoirs of the neighbouring Belagavi district, from where they get the supply.