Rain increases water levels at Neerasagar reservoir

HUBBALLI: Copious rainfall in the district has resulted in water level increasing at Neerasagar Reservoir. The reservoir's catchment area has been receiving good rains for a week and inflow has increased leading to water levels increasing by seven feet.
This can bring a respite to the residents of the twin cities who have been facing a severe drinking water problem. Neerasagar is one of the main sources of drinking water to Hubballi including Old Hubballi, Gokul and Ayodhya Nagar which cover about 25% of the city.
The lake dried up completely in 2016 due to drought and had triggered a huge water crisis in some parts of the city. The water board was drawing 35 to 40 million litres of water per day (MLD) from Neersagar. After Neersagar went dry, the water board started drawing an additional 40MLD of water from Malaprabha reservoir to supply areas which were depending on Neerasagar.
R K Umesh, assistant executive engineer, Water Board, Hubballi, said, "We are happy that the water level is increasing in Neerasagar. Neersagar can store up to a 1TMC feet of water. We stopped pumping water when water levels reached dead storage in 2016."
"We can draw 35 MLD water from the reservoir once water levels are above dead storage. With the available water, we can supply water to parts of Hubballi for one and half months. But we will wait for some more days for the water level to increase to at least 15 to 20 feet. Then, we will be able to supply sufficient water to the city for more than six months," said the official.
"We have three big pumps that are under minor repairs as they had become idle for the past three years. We will get them repaired soon and will put them back on service in the next few days to pump water from the reservoir," added Umesh.