New lease of life for Kumudavathy and Arkavathy

BANGALORE: The State Government has finally approved proposed works at the cost of `24 crore to rejuvenate rivers Arkavathy and Kumudavathy, which augment flow of water into the TG Halli Reservoir; two years after mooting the idea. Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) Chairperson P B Ramamurthy said, “The water resources department has approved the proposed work and has entrusted it to Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Limited (CNNL). We have requested CNNL to undertake desilting river Kumudavathi first as the reservoir gets most of its inflow from the river. This will augment the inflow to the reservoir during  the next monsoon.”According to him, Bangalore Rural, Doddabhallapur and Tumkur district commissioners have already identified and cleared encroachments along the course of both rivers. The CNNL can now directly ivite tenders and award the projects to rejuvenate both the rivers, he said. BWSSB had been pumping only 18 MLD to some parts of the city though it had necessary infrastructure to pump around 125 MLD due to shortage of water in reservoir. Hence, the State Government has sanctioned `2 crore in 2010-11 budget to explore means to augment inflow to TG Halli reservoir. At per State Government directions, CNNL had constituted four teams to survey the catchment areas of both rivers and to suggest methods to rejuvenate the rivers. After the survey, CNNL suggested massive desilting along the course of the river, banning eucalyptus tree plantations in the catchment areas and demolition of 200 check dams constructed along the course of Arkavathy river -- to revive the rivers. CNNL also advised the government to regulate new bore well sinking, besides formulating a policy to check the indiscriminate drawing of ground water in the catchment areas. Though the Government has approved all CNNL's suggestions, it is yet to formulate a policy to check the indiscriminate pumping of ground water or ban eucalyptus plantations in these areas. However, it has passed a bill to regulate sinking of new borewells in the state.