1,200 ponds, lakes go bone-dry in district

The drinking water crisis in the district has reached a boiling point well before the onset of summer. Most of the lakes and tanks in the district have gone bone-dry.

According to the Zilla Panchayat sources, of the 1,341 lakes and ponds in the district, as many as 1,200 water bodies have gone dry. The water level at 114 lakes and ponds has been reduced to one fourth while only 27 water bodies have 50% of water.

The government has declared only Sira taluk in the district as drought-hit so far while the situation in a few parched taluks like Pavagad, Madhugiri, Chikkanayakanahalli and Koratagere is far worse than Sira taluk.

About 971 lakes/ponds come under the ZP control while 370 water bodies fall under purview of Minor Irrigation department. But the fact is not a single lake/pond has been filled. As many as 191 lakes/ponds have been identified for drinking water schemes.

These water bodies have not been filled with Hemavati River water. A few lakes/ponds in the cities and town have received some quantum of Hemavathi water. But the water may not last beyond December or January, it is said.

The drinking water situation in the district is grave, this year. Normally, at least a few lakes/ponds used to recieve good quantum of Hemavati water. But this year not a single lake/pond has been filled, lament officials of ZP and Minor Irrigation officials.

There is no water in the lakes and the ponds in Cauvery, Krishna, Shimsha, Jayamangali and Suwarnamukhi river basins have become dry. The streams including Shimsha, Jayamangali and Suwarnamukhi have gone completely dry.

Also, the indiscriminate sand and soil mining in these streams and ponds have disturbed the river course and affected the water holding capacity of these water bodies badly.

The unregulated mining for soil being used for Pavagad-Maddur national highway works has only added to the woes. Below par monsoon and indiscriminate sand and soil mining have hurt water carrying capacity of the water bodies and more importantly the water table in the region.

At Honnudike lake, the illegal miners have dug the water body 10 to 15 feet deepto extract the mud. How did tahsildar allow indiscriminate extraction of soil/mud from the lake, question the villagers.
DH News Service