Cauvery Neeravari Nigama, BWSSB to lift 'dead storage' from KRS

Demand for drinking water pegged at 2 tmcft per month

Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Limited (CNNL), which is entrusted with the responsibility of allocating water from reservoirs in Cauvery basin, including Krishnaraja Sagar, for irrigation and drinking to Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya and other towns and villages in old Mysuru region, is chalking out plans to ensure sufficient water during this summer.

The Cauvery Neeravari Nigama authorities are planning to lift the ‘dead storage’ in KRS dam by using pumping units. The nigama and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) authorities are collaborating to ensure sufficient water supply to Bengaluru till June. The authorities are planning to hire water pumps on rents to reduce the expense, and have approached private agencies. The officials, however, are worried about the investment on electric generators. Use of generators is inevitable as most areas where authorities have planned to instal water pumping units have no power supply.

Earlier, the Nigama officials had planned to procure 17 water pumpsets to lift water for 45 days and the cost estimation for the same was pegged at Rs 45 crore but BWSSB rejected the proposal, stating that the proposed plan was expensive.

An official said that there is no power supply in the places identified to fix water pumps. “It is inevitable to use generators as Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) authorities claim that they need a minimum of six months time to lay power line,” said the official.

Due to severe drought and failure of monsoon across Kodagu, Hassan and Mysuru, the inflow to the KRS dam was not on expected lines and thus it has become inevitable to lift dead storage from the dam, the official said.

At present, the reservoir has 11.46 tmcft of water, of which, 4.40 tmcft water is dead storage thus only 7.06 tmcft water is available for use. On March 4, last year, the reservoir had 17.58 tmcft.

Though 1.5 tmcft water was released to KRS from Hemavathi reservoir last week, it is insufficient to meet the demand. According to sources, 2 tmcft of water should be lifted every month for drinking purpose and the authorities expect an inflow of 1.5 tmcft water till June.