K'tka: As water crisis looms in Shivamogga, officials inspect water processing unit

Commissioner of Shivamogga City Corporation Charulatha, Mayor Latha Ganesh, Deputy Mayor BS Channabasappa, and officials of Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board inspected a water processing unit in Mandli, on the outskirts of Shivamogga on Friday.

"This year we are facing one of the worst water crisis in Shivamogga. As of now, there is sufficient water but if we don't get rain in the next 7-10 days, we will have to take measures to identify where we can reduce supply so citizens aren't affected," Shivamogga City Commissioner Charulatha said after the inspection.

Amidst prevailing water crisis in Shivamogga district, environmentalists in the area termed the district forest administration's action of planting one lakh saplings on the occasion of World Environment day 'illogical' as the monsoon is delayed in the state.

Ajay Kumar Sharma, an environmentalist, told ANI, "Monsoon is delayed and we are already facing acute drinking water issues in the area. As we didn't get sufficient pre-monsoon showers, it is very illogical to plant saplings at this point."

"They don't have any water tankers of their own. Even in case of emergency, they have to rely on other sources to get a few tankers of water. When people are having severe drinking water issues in the district, how is the administration going to water these saplings?" questioned Sharma.

Several districts of the state have been officially declared as drought-affected.

Reportedly, the combined live storage in all four reservoirs of the Cauvery basin -- Krishnaraja Sagar, Kabini, Hemavathi and Harangi -- is 13.93 tmcft as against their full live storage capacity of 104.55 tmcft.

To combat the crisis, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) has also ordered Karnataka to release 9.19 tmcft of water for June from the Biligundlu reservoir on the interstate border to Mettur Dam in Tamil Nadu.