BELAGAVI
Mayor Shobha Somanache and her Deputy Reshma Patil inspected the water storage at Rakaskop reservoir. According to sources, L&T officials informed them that the water available at the reservoir can cater to the needs of the city till June-end.
Hidkal and Rakaskop reservoirs are the main sources of drinking water to the city. The city and the villages on its outskirts depend on these two reservoirs for drinking water. Water pumped from Hidkal reservoir is purified at Basavana Kolla and supplied to designated areas in the city. On the other side, water pumped from Rakaskop reservoir is purified at Laxmi Tekadi area and supplied to designated areas in the city and surrounding rural areas.
There are 58 wards under the jurisdiction of City Corporation. There is a huge demand for 116 MLD of water for drinking purposes in the city corporation limits. Usually, the supplier agency draws 54 MLD of water from Rakaskop and 62 MLD from Hidkal reservoir. But as there is a scarcity of water in these reservoirs, only 15 to 20 MLD of water is being supplied daily from Rakaskop reservoir.
As of now, only 4 feet of water is left in Rakaskop reservoir. If the monsoon does not start by mid of June, the water level will reduce further and there will be a need to use dead storage water. Currently, water from this reservoir is supplied to parts of City South and rural areas once every 5-6 days.According to officials, the water in Hidkal reservoir is less but will be sufficient for some more days. But, due to technical and power issues, it is not possible to pump the required water from the reservoir. Hence, water is being supplied through tankers in City North and Camp area.
