In view of water crisis in Mysore city, Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB) Managing Director Gaurav Gupta visited the Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) on Sunday. He directed the Irrigation Department authorities to shut the reverse sluice gates so as to ensure water supply through Devaraya Canal to Mysore city.
Gupta accompanied by Mandya Deputy Commissioner Ajay Nagabhushan, Mysore DC and Mysore City Corporation administrative officer C Shikha and KUWSDB engineers visited the pump houses that are supplying water to Mysore city to assess the situation.
Currently, only one tmc ft of water is said to be available in the KRS reservoir, which would be enough to quench the thirst of Bangalore residents for not more than a week.
Following the visit, Gupta directed the Irrigation Department officials to maintain sufficient water level in the reservoir by closing the reverse sluice gates and asked them to run emergency pump houses at Hongalli to feed water to Mysore city without any interruption.
Gupta directed the officials to ensure all leaks in Devaraya canal is fixed with the assistance of police and authorities of Mysore City Corporation to avoid drawing of drinking water for agriculture purpose.
Following Gupta’s orders to close the reverse sluice gates on Sunday, Mysore is getting 46 MLD water from Devaraya Canal, administrative officer of Mysore City Corporation C Shikha stated in a press release.
They also checked the flow of water to Bangalore from KRS reservoir to know what measures should be taken to mitigate the possible water crisis in Bangalore.
On the occasion, Shikha explained the measures taken to address the water crisis in Mysore by providing additional 10 water tankers to the existing 25. Steps have been taken to recharge the water table in borewells as well, she added.
Recently, the Irrigation Department had decided to give priority to Bangalore than Mysore in supplying water from KRS reservoir.
Following an Express report ‘Bangalore Reducing Mysore’s KRS Share?’ published on Friday, a team of technical experts on Saturday expressed concern over water in KRS reservoir touching its lowest level and urged the government to take immediate steps to pump water from the dead storage.
They had argued that a bulk of water supply is being given to Bangalore and in a week’s time this will severely affect the water supply to the city.
