Water level in Harangi dam dips drastically

Water from reservoir used to irrigate more than 1.5 lakh acres

 The water level in Harangi reservoir, the lifeline of farmers in North Kodagu, has declined drastically.

The water from the Harangi reservoir is used for irrigating the farm land not only in Kushalnagar, but also in Somwarpet, Arkalgud in Hassan, Hunsur, KR Nagar and Periyapatna taluks in Mysuru. It irrigates more than 1.5 lakh acres of land.

With the decrease in rainfall, the water level in the reservoir has been declining drastically in the last few years.

Moreover, this year, water was released from the reservoir to the KRS to be released to Tamil Nadu as well.

The storage capacity of the reservoir is 8.5 tmcft. On Thursday, the water level stood at 2.02 tmcft. The dead storage level is 0.75 tmcft. Only 1.25 tmcft water can be utilised. Of 2,859 foot capacity of the dam, there was only 2,820.38 feet water. The inflow of water to the reservoir was only 35 cusecs. Even the state government has issued a direction not to supply water from the reservoir to agriculture activities. Instead, use the water for mitigating drinking water woes during peak summer.

Protest for water

In fact, the farmers from catchment areas had even staged a protest demanding to release water to irrigate the farm land. The decrease in the water level has only led the farmers to worry about the future of their crops in the catchment area. A majority of water sources in the catchment areas have gone dry. There is shortage of water for cattle as well.

Nagaraju, an official from reservoir, said, “The stored water will be used for mitigating the water crisis.”

Ganesh, a farmer from Koodige, said “The officials should ensure that water in the reservoir does not get wasted and thereby supply to the farmers’ land.”

With the decline in water level in the reservoir, some farmers are showing interest in drip irrigation in the region.