Cauvery drying up, water crisis looms in Karnataka's Kushalnagar

MADIKERI: With summer approaching, the level of water in the life-giving River Cauvery flowing through Kushalnagar is declining. This time by the end of February, with the water level falling in the river there is a high possibility that the supply of drinking water to the nearby villages, including Kushalnagar town, will be disrupted in the coming days.
Although the river was overflowing during the rainy season, it is a common sight to see Cauvery drying up every year during the summer season. The water project was formed several decades ago to provide clean drinking water to the people of Kushalnagar and Periyapatna by the Karnataka City Water Supply and Sewerage Board. The board has committed to supply water to about 30,000 people in Kushalnagar town, Gummana Kolli and Mullusoge villages.
Now, Kushalnagar town itself has a daily requirement of 28 lakh litres of water and work is going on to supply water from the river through pumps near Baichanahalli of the town. In some parts of the town, water is being supplied by using private borewells. Near Baichanahalli, the work of pumping water to the tanks of about 9 lakh litres capacity through two pumps of 60 horse power is being done continuously. Anand, an engineer of the Sewerage Board, said that water is being pumped continuously for two hours every three days in the town.
Anand said that if the water level decreases in the next 10 days, alternate measures will be taken immediately. He said that if the flow of water in the river slows down further the water supply to the crops through pumps in the upper river basin will be stopped by requesting the Kodagu deputy commissioner. He also said that a bund will be built across the river and water will be stored in the river.
Kushalnagar municipal president Jayawardhan told that an alternate system of supplying water in most of the wards through borewells in the town has been planned. Municipal chief officer Shivappa Naik has requested the citizens to be careful and not to waste water under any circumstance.
Meanwhile, the polluted waste water from the town and surrounding areas is directly entering the river bed and the the river water cannot be used directly. If used directly, there is a high possibility of contracting an infectious disease.