Date:18/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/18/stories/2007031801730400.htm

Karnataka - Bellary

29 tmcft of Tungabhadra water flowing into the sea

Staff Correspondent

Lack of storage facility creating scarcity in drought-prone districts of Bellary, Koppal and Raichur

BELLARY: Even as the State Government is fighting to get additional share of water from the Cauvery, in Tungabhadra it has been allowing huge quantity of water to go unutilised. For the past several years, the State's utilisation has been showing a declining trend. No serious attempt has been made or proposed to overcome this.

Tungabhadra Project, which is an inter-State project built in 1953, has been catering to the needs of Bellary, Koppal and Raichur in Karnataka and Kadapa, Kurnool and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh.

The project has been allocated 212 tmcft of water by the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal. The share of Karnataka is 138.990 tmcft and that of Andhra Pradesh 73.010 tmcft.

Located at Hospet, the water holding capacity of the reservoir is limited to 133 tmcft and the utilisation fixed at 212 tmcft taking into consideration the fact that the dam gets filled twice a water year (July to June) during monsoon and in the post monsoon.

The State has been utilising the water for irrigation through the Left Bank main canal, which is exclusively for Koppal and Raichur districts and from the two canals on the right bank — high level and low level — in three taluks of Bellary district along with Andhra Pradesh.

As against this allocation, the utilisation of water from the Tungabhadra Project has come down drastically. As against the normal inflow of over 300 tmcft into the reservoir, the utilisation has been varying between 150 and 170. In 2005-06, as against the inflow of 316.786 tmcft, the utilisation was 151.501 tmcft. Around 119.411 tmcft was let out through the spillway in that year.

Heavy formation of silt over the years has brought down the augmentation capacity of the reservoir from 133 tmcft to 104 tmcft. Thus, 29 tmcft of water is flowing into the sea.

According to statistics provided by the Tungabhadra Board, except in 1980-81, in which year alone the utilisation had exceeded (216.646 tmcft), the utilisation since 1976-77 has been less than the allocation in the two States. Except for three years from 2001 to 2003 when the State reeled under severe drought, the reservoir has overflowed almost every year. Scanty post-monsoon rainfall in the catchment areas has affected the second filling of the reservoir.

K.M. Rudraswamy, former Chief Engineer of Tungabhadra Board, was of the opinion that early release of water into the canals (from July 1 instead of July 10 or 15) was one way of increasing the utilisation.

"Statistics showed that the reservoir gets filled during the monsoon. In anticipation of good inflow into the reservoir in the latter period, water can be released early which will not only help farmers take up early cultivation but also enable it to utilise more water." Besides the removal of silt from the reservoir, which is considered unviable, construction of balancing reservoirs at suitable places in the command area is the only alternative for the State.

Darur Pullaiah, president of Bellary-based Tungabhadra Jalasadhana Samiti and former MP, was of the view that the board should ensure early completion of the canal repair works and come out with proposals for additional storage in the command area.