Mandya: The water level of Krishnarajasagar reservoir, the lifeline of the district, has fallen to 84 feet. Compared to last year, this time the water level of the reservoir is 18 feet less. The maximum level of the reservoir is 124.80 feet, and on Sunday , 84.80 feet of water has accumulated in the reservoir. On the same day last year, 102.80 feet of water was stored in the dam. At present only 508 cusecs of water is flowing into the reservoir and 3726 cusecs of water is being released from the reservoir.
On the same day last year, the reservoir’s inflow was 16814 cusecs, while 6242 cusecs of water was released. Last year, the pre-monsoon rains were good in the months of March and April. As a result, there was an increase in the inflow of the reservoir during the summer season itself. Due to the lack of rain this time, the water level of the reservoir started reducing day by day.
At present only enough water is stored in the reservoir is sufficiant for drinking hence drinking water scarcity would not arise till end of summer. Farmers will be relieved if monsoon rains arrive as expected. Farmers who are ready to start farming activities are now looking towards the monsoon rains.
From 2018 till now, there have been a couple of years of record rainfall was received. In four years, hundreds of TMC feet of water flowed into the sea. As the month of April comes to an end, everyone’s attention is focused on the quantity of water in the KRS reservoir because no alternative arrangement has been made to store the water.
In order to conserve water during good rains, connecting canals to lakes, constructing new lakes in many places, dredging full lakes and increasing water storage capacity, and not following scientific measures to increase ground water, we continue to face shortage of water in summer.
