After Yettinahole, don't tap into Sharavathy too: Green activists

Sagar: Even as the government is going ahead with the Yettinahole project despite protests, it has now come up against  opposition from people and activists of the Malnad region, who are up in arms against its plan to draw water for Bengaluru city from the Sharavathy river. Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister, G Parameshwar had announced recently that the state government was preparing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to  draw water from the reservoir built on the Sharavathi for Bengaluru. 

The government’s move is based on the suggestion of a ten member committee headed by former chairman of the BWSSB, B N Thyagaraj  in 2014 that 30 TMC ft  of water could be drawn between 2021 and 2051 from the Sharavathi River to meet the drinking water needs of Bengaluru. Annoyed by the announcement, the activists submitted a memorandum to the government through Sub Divisional Officer in Sagar on Saturday, strongly opposing the project. Similar pleas were made in Hosanagar, Teerthahalli, Shivamogga, Shikaripura, Shiralakoppa and Soraba. 

Declaring it  a foolish move, the activists pointed out that the Linganamakki reservoir was 426 kms  from Bengaluru and 1,800 feet above sea level while  Bengaluru,was 2,800 feet above sea level. Also, Linganamakki was built only for power production and was already  short of 40 TMC of water due to silting, they noted.

Pointing out that Shivamogga had been in the grip of a drought over the last four years , they said the reservoir was already short of water and diversion of its water to Bengaluru would only deprive the locals of their supply. "Last summer, the Linganamakki reservoir did not have enough water even to produce power. The generators were shut due to water shortage and now the government wants to take water from the dam to Bengaluru,” regretted activist, Prakash Heggodu .