With drought, encroachment, sun has set on Hessarghatta Lake

With drought, encroachment, sun has set on Hessarghatta Lake
New Indian Express

Years of drought and encroachment have left the Hessarghatta reservoir empty. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is concerned because there is no water being pumped into the city from the reservoir and it has no way of reviving it.

BWSSB chairman S.K. Pattanayak said, ‘‘There seems to be no reprieve for the area. Since February 1996 no water has been pumped in from the reservoir to Bangalore. The catchment area that existed since 1896 in the region has disappeared due to encroachment and urban development. We have not been able to stop this.’’

‘‘We have allowed NGOs and the Military Engineering Group (MEG) to save all the inlets running into the reservoir. If these inlets are kept clean, when there is an overflow in the Arkavathy river, the reservoir will be filled. These groups are involved in desilting and weeding activities in the tank. The only hope is for the rains to revive the lake. The total area of the reservoir is 1,224 acres with a storage capacity of 1,100 million cubic feet. In the seventies, the tank was pumping in 31 million litres a day (mld) to the city.’’

The death of the reservoir began in the late eighties. A temporary solution was found to this. Chief Engineer – Cauvery, B.R. Nagendra said, ‘‘We operated with 12 borewells around the periphery of the reservoir, now even they have gone dry.’’

Areas like Peenya and Malleswaram have been affected by this catastrophe. Their water requirements are now fulfilled from the Thippagondanahalli line and the Cauvery water line. The allocation for maintenance of the reservoir is now going to save it.