More bad news: TG Halli reservoir drying up

More bad news: TG Halli reservoir drying up
S Sampath, Bangalore, April 2, DH News Service:

The unusually hot summer has dealt a double whammy for Bangaloreans as acute shortage of power is now being accompanied by severe water crisis.



The Thippagondanahalli reservoir (TG Halli) responsible for providing water to the western part of the City is now drying up.

The dismaying news is that the reservoir, which can store water upto 74 feet of water, now has a mere 19-ft, while it had 30 ft of water during the corresponding time last year.

At its full capacity, the reservoir can supply 135 million litres of water per day (mld) for two years. “We are now releasing about 60 mld per day due to the low reserves,” said BWSSB Additional Chief Engineer Roop Kumar.

If the levels drop below 12 feet, then water cannot be pumped out as it will affect the bio-diversity and living organisms in the reservoir.

At the present rate of pumping water, the levels will drop to 12 feet in one month’s time. Roop Kumar said that the department is now contemplating reducing the output of water to 30 mld, so that supply can hold out till the end of May.

TG Halli reservoir was constructed in 1933 by Sir M Visvesvaraiah to collect the water from Arkavathi and Kumudavathi river in the Shivaganga, Nandi Hills and Doddaballapur region, and the excess water overflowing from the 484 lakes in the area.

But this reservoir has not filled to full capacity since 1998. Officials attribute this to the fact none of these lakes are even filling up due to the indiscriminate number of borewells that have sprung up.

The Department is now undertaking measures to increase the inflow of water into the reservoir and this project is likely to end in a year’s time.

One of the measures being contemplated is the removal of encroachments along the path of Arkavathi river to facilitate greater flow of water into the reservoir.