Belagavi: A chain of old wells dating back to the British era in Belagavi city has come in handy for local authorities to provide drinking water to the people with most rivers and reservoirs drying up in the region.
Of the hundreds of wells that existed during the British raj, the city corporation has been able to revive 66 to supply water to 25 per cent of Belagavi’s population.
“Water from the revived wells is being supplied to households once in two days. The wells which are around 100 to 200 years old have plenty of water and have turned out to be an effective alternative source of supply to Belagavi city,” said corporation chief engineer, R S Naik.
The city depended on wells for its water supply before the local authorities implemented the Rakkaskop Scheme to draw water to it from the Rakkaskop reservoir. But now that it is drying up, the corporation decided to join hands with many service clubs like the Rotary and Lions to revive the wells and use them once again to meet the people's drinking water needs .
One of the biggest it has revived is the Congress well, which was dug to cater to the needs of people attending the Congress Convention of 1924, that was presided over by Mahatma Gandhi in the city.
A well constructed in 1908 in Veerbhadra Nagar ,with a water column of 100 feet and fed by a stream nearly 5 kms away, a rectangular well at Shetty Galli ,constructed by the British in 1885 and another at Math Galli dating back to 1883 are also coming in handy in this time of crisis, reveals the corporation.
