Cauvery water to be available for Bengaluru until June 15.
BENGALURU: Allaying fears of drinking water scarcity in the backdrop of drought, Karnataka water resources minister MB Patil said on Monday that the city had enough Cauvery water to meet drinking water needs until June 15.
Krishna Raja Sagar (4.438 tmc) and Kabini (0.295 tmc), the main sources of drinking water for Bengaluru, have a live storage of 4.7 tmc of water.
The city needs about 4.14 tmc of water to meet drinking water needs for the next 60 days.
"With this storage, we can provide drinking water for Bengaluru until June 15.
We hope the pre-monsoon showers in May and arrival of monsoon in early June would help us tide over the crisis," Patil said, speaking to reporters after a meeting with officials of Water Resources department and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).
The presently available water in KRS, Kabini, Harangi, Hemavathi, Almatti, Narayanapura, Hidkal, Hipparagi, Tungabhadra and Malaprabha reservoirs would be drawn only for drinking water purposes, Patil said, and appealed to farmers to co-operate with the district administration in this regard as water would not be released for agriculture.
Elaborating on meeting the water needs of Bengaluru, the minister said, “BWSSB needs daily discharge of 600 cusecs from the reservoirs.
However, taking into account the transit losses, evaporation and syphoning of water en-route, water resources department has assured daily discharge of 800 cusecs.
This will enable us to meet the drinking water needs of Bengaluru until June 15 with present storage”.