Master Thesis:Srinivaspur Taluk, Kolar

Bansi Mehta

Depleting LI
The Mudimadugu Panchayat in
dearth of equitable measures
the scarcely available water resources.
for the implementation of the debated
linking project as alternative measures
solution explains Bansi Mehta

ressed in a green lungi and a white shirt

crammed with dust, thirty-five year old Venkat
Reddy, a farmer, says that he is prepared to
leave for Bangalore and work as a porter. Reddy lives
in Tomalappale village, which is 40 kilometers away
from Srinivaspur taluk, Kolar district. The area falls
under the dark zone marked by Central Groundwater
Board (CGWB) due to over exploitation of groundwater
level.
Despite the fact that he owns 2 acres of land on
which he has spent more than twenty years producing
crops like groundnut, ragi, paddy etc; he is prepared to
leave his family and migrate to the bustling city.
I have spent more than Rs 2 lakh on bore well digging, and only one out of five bore well is supplying
water to my field, said Reddy. He further admits that
due to higher demand and market pressure, he had to
change his cropping pattern from rain-fed crops to water
intensive crops like tomato.
It is a risky crop however, I have no option, he
added. Reddy is not the only farmer who had to change
his cropping pattern, being a victim of lack of sufficient
supply of water and increase in demand of water intensive crop like tomato.
I dread the day when there will be no water but I
also cant stop producing crops which are in demand in
the market, said Reddy. He further said that there is not
much that he can do about it other than migrating to the
city. In spite of having his own land, Reddy now works
in his uncles field where he monitors the crops and gets
a monthly income of Rs 2000.
Sixty -five year old Gopal Reddy from Anepalle village battles parallel state. I have spent lakhs of rupees
in drilling three bore wells, however only one works,
he said.
He also added that earlier we used to get water from
50 feet now expecting it from 1000 feet also proves a big
disappointment. If I dont use available water for
tomato crop how will I feed my family, he said.
I dont know what to do you give me an option if
the bore wells in few years will dry, what should I be
doing, he said being distressed.
Aanepalle and Tomalappale villages are few of the
hamlets of the Mudimudugu panchayat, which is facing
severe water crisis. Mudimadugu is a typical panchayat,
situated in Srinivaspur taluk of Kolar district, which
forms the eastern most district of the state.
The situation is no different in other of sixteen ham
lets namely Chikevaripalle, Chintamanepalle, Bodireddypalle, Ooramadigapalle, Mvyapalapalle, Molamotakapalle, Anepalle, Tomalappale, Devannagaripalle,
Thatimanipalle,
Chilakanerupalle,
Pathurgadda,
Kothur, Yerlampalle, Balevaripalle, Bonepalle, Kadapalareddigaripalle.
However villages like Molamotakapalle, Anepalle,
Tomalappale, have been marked under critical zone due
to over exploitation of groundwater level. B L Suryanarayan, a CPI (M) activist said that the water problems
have a directly affected the farmers and their agricultural produce in the taluk.
Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) had undertaken a study
in the year 2004-2008. It studied the Mudimadugu Panchayat where it concluded that there is shortage of 5lakh cubic meters of water. Groundwater demand per
capita in Mudimadugu is around 643 cubic meters.
The study area of Mudimadugu Panchayat is situated exactly between the border of Andhra Pradesh and
Karnataka state, where rainfall vagaries and a largescale over abstraction of groundwater have plagued villages for the last ten years. This area is the part of
Papagni River basin.
We collected the data in three stages primary, secondary and allied data, said P S Diwakar, Hydro geologist from FES.
He further added that FESs staff collected the primary data with their own equipments like GPS and
water level indicators. The socio-economic data was

gathered through household surveys. However secondary data was taken from government agencies and allied
from satellite imageries. The water level analysis was
undertaken during pre monsoon (May), monsoon August and post monsoon (October).
The well density is around 17 per sq km with 233
bore wells and more than 70 bore wells have already
failed due to the deepening of the aquifer, said Diwakar.
Each person consumes 48 liters of water per day.
There are 233 bore well in total. Out of which 40 bore
wells were selected zone wise and a detailed analysis
was carried out. 1430 hectares of land was undertaken
for survey.
However the failure of about 30% of wells was
recorded, which indicates that the present situation if
continues for another 4-5 years, is bound to create
groundwater drought.
The findings of the survey stated that villages like
Annepalle, Malmotapalle, and Tummalapalle fall under
the most critical zone where the groundwater availability cannot be guaranteed below 1000 feet. Water intensive crops like sugarcane cultivations in Mudimadugu
are exceeding 30 acres every year.
After every bore well fails to yield water the farmer
goes to the panchayat and gets the permission to yield
another one, said Vijay Kumar, the team leader of FES.
Rama Devi who is the vice-president of the
Mudimudugu panchayat stated that she gets regular
complaints from the farmers of bore wells being empty.
I certainly have to allow them to drill another one, she
said.
Majority tanks in the village have gone dry or are
silted with clay and Hypomia plants.
The Hydro geological regime in Mudimadugu underlined by unconfined and confined rocks with deeper
fracturing system more than 100 meters depth.
Shallow unconfined system is almost negligible in
this area. The properties of the rock here is such that
they will allow passage of the water but they will not
hold them, said Diwakar.
He further said that the average rainfall in the region
is 750mm. The socio- economic condition of the region
plays a pivotal role in determining the state of the
groundwater in an area.
He further added that after inadequate monsoon and
empty tanks the farmers are left with no opportunity but
to drill bore well.

FES Survey ndings

There are total 223 bore wells in Mudim adugu.
However the failure of about 30% of wells was
recorded, which indicates that the present situation if continues for another 4-5 years, is bound
to create groundwater drought..
Villages like Annepalle, Malmotapalle, and Tummalapalle fall under the most critical zone where
the groundwater availability cannot be guaranteed below 1000 feet..
Majority tanks in the village have gone dry or are
silted with clay and Hypomia plants.

I dread the day when there will

be no water but I also cant stop
producing crops which are in demand in the market,

RIVER LINKING
According to a news report in Times of India dated
March 12, 2010 about one third of the groundwater in
the country is unfit for consumption. The Central
Groundwater Board found that 21 districts in the state
of Karnataka are to be contaminated with iron and 20
districts with higher levels of fluoride.
Not only Karnataka but also the biggest challenge
that the country faced after independence was to conserve its existing natural resource especially water reserves. Water resources mainly consist of the
groundwater and surface water with rainfall being the
major source of recharge.
However, the inadequate and uncertain monsoon
had posed a greater challenge for the government in
power to take drastic steps in order to ensure constant
supply of water by diverting excess water regions to the
drought prone.
According to the water resources report 2003, Karnataka is subjected to repeated droughts. It further states
that the National Irrigation Commission had identified
12 districts and 88 taluks in the state as chronically
drought affected.
During the era of Indira Gandhi government National Perspective Plan was set up to undertake study of
major river linking projects in the state.
We have only one hope to stop Srinivaspur to become a dessert, we need Netravati project to be implemented, said Sriram Reddy, Secretary of Byreshvaraya
Vidhyalaya, Srinivaspur.
According to the website of National Water Development Authority (NWDA), during the time of independence the countrys population was about 400
million and faced severe food crisis. During which the
irrigation cover in the country was minimal. The main
agenda of the government by then became to launch
massive irrigation projects. The plan was to manage the
surface and under ground water resources.
In order to work constructively towards managing
water resources Dr K L Rao, the then the Irrigation Minister, in the year 1972 proposed the idea of river linking.
After which the concept of Garland Canal was initiated
by Captain Dastur, which covered the Himalayan, central and peninsular regions. However the due to lack of
feasibility it did not meet its results.
Currently the Water Resource Ministry is carrying
similar studies to examine the possibilities of diverting
major rivers to others in order address the water problems in the country. One of the projects is NetravatiHemavati river linking project in the state of Karnataka.
National Perspective Plan comprises of two components viz. Himalayan Rivers Development and Peninsular Rivers Development. Netravati-Hemavati River
linking project falls under the later one.

Netravati-Hemavati River
Linking Project
The link proposes to divert the westward owing
Netravati to the east ward Hemavati, while diverting it the drought prone districts like Tumkur,
Hassan, Mandya, Bangalore Rural and Kolar will
be supplied with water.
In order to execute this project a canal of about
11 kilometers is to be constructed , including 3
tunnels og total length of 8.4 km.
Costal Department Authority chairman B Nagaraj Shetty in a news report (Deccan Herald)
stated the diversion of Netravati River is unscientic.

Master Thesis:Srinivaspur Taluk, Kolar

Bansi Mehta

FE Beneath
Srinivaspur taluk symbolizes the
by the government to conserve
It is no state to linger more
Netravati-Hemavati riverprove the only practical

Gopal Reddy,65,looks over the only hand

pump which works in Anepalle village. It is
used for drinking water and other purposes.
Netravati River starts from the Gangamoola at Samse in Chikmagalur district
of Karnataka while Hemavati River is a
very important tributary of the Kaveri
River. It starts in the Western Ghats near
Ballala rayana durga in the Chikmagalur
district.
The link proposes to divert the westward owing Netravati to the east ward
Hemavati, while diverting it the drought
prone districts like Tumkur, Hassan,
Mandya, Bangalore Rural and Kolar will
be supplied with water.
About 188 million cubic metres of surplus water from Netravati basin is to be
diverted to irrigate an area of about
33,813 hecatres under the Hemavati Irrigation Project. In order to execute this
project a canal of about 11 kilometers is
to be constructed , including 3 tunnels og
total length of 8.4 km.
According to Ramesh Kumar, former
Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA)
from Srinivaspur said that implementing
the Netravati report is one of the agenda
that his party (Congress) will work for if
he comes to power. The water from Netravati River will be lifted to a height of
19.50 metres to divert to Kaveri basin.
In order to study the project and its
feasibility, experts from the government
like A G Kodgi, K C Reddy and G S Paramashivaiah, all submitted reports.
According to a news report published
in Deccan Herald newspaper, the study
must have costs more than Rs 10,00 crore.
However the project proposal is
highly debated between the scientists and
the politicians.
Costal Department Authority chairman B Nagaraj Shetty in a news report
(Deccan Herald) stated the diversion of
Netravati River is unscientic. There
were newspaper reports in various English dailies, which stated that building
Gundia hydroelectric plant would clash
with the water-linking project.
There is opposition from the environmentalist world over and from members
of FES who states that the entire forest
cover and villages will be submerged
which will create a new set of problems
for the government.
The project will create new problems
and will have adverse effect on ecology,
said S G Gopinath, a member from FES.
The NWDA website states that if the

water-linking project is carried out, about

295 hectares of areas in Sakleshpur taluk
of Hassan district will be submerged. Out
of which 78 hectares is forest cover and
173 hectares of cultivable land and about
44 hectares of non-agricultural land will
be submerged.Another reservoir of
865.70 m will submerge an area of about
120 hectares of which, 33 hectares is
forestland, and 73 hectares is cultivable
land and 14 hectares under non-agricultural use. The third reservoir of 865.70 m
will submerge about 350 hectares; of
which 97 hectares is forestland, 218
hectares is cultivable land and 35 hectares
under non-agricultural use.
However the villagers are not that familiar with the project. When asked
about the details regarding the project to
few of the villagers who fall under the
dark zone in Mudimadugu panchayat
not one of them seem to have idea beyond the name of the rivers. Rama Devi
too, the vice president of Mudimadugu
panchayat was unfamiliar about the river
linking proposal.
The politicians use the water linking
scheme as vote bank however when it is
to be implemented or explained they
dont do their work, said Sriram Reddy,
secretary of Byreshvaraya Vidhyalaya,
Srinivaspur taluk. The farmers are left
with no choice, the new techniques, projects, proposals never reach the him, it is
than difcult to stop the farmer from
drilling bore well said B L Suryanarayan,
a CPI (M) activist. The condition of
farmers is worsening.

ALTERNATIVES
Alternative Measures to be undertaken
River linking project is debated measure
to address the water woe in the country.
However there are alternative methods
suggested by FES which if followed can
yield favourable results.
FES has recommended certain urgent
measures which needs to be undertaken
in order to ensure that the groundwater
drought condition do not prevail in the
country especially in the state of Karnataka.It lays significant emphasis on
watershed development concept. It is
one of the biggest fallouts of water shortage. It is based on the principle of watershed developmenbt and management.

The concept of Watershed Development and Management has gained momentum during the recent past, and is
being increasingly sought as a means to
address the problem of water crises.
Besides, watershed projects also offer
opportunities to address some critical
socio-economic issues pertaining to the
rural scenario in the country today, especially when many of these issues can be
backtracked to the problems of water resources.

Measures
Water Budgeting
Pani Panchayat
Watershed Management
Rain Water Harvesting
Change in Cropping Pattern
Pani Panchayat
Campaigning
Community awareness should be
imparted on the available water resources to explain the demand-supply
water balance. They should also be made
aware of water budgeting, said Diwakar.
For example after 1972 drought in
state of Maharahstra the concept of Pani
Panchayat had gained momentum where
in two or more villages gather together to
supervise and distribute the water resources efficiently. They are co-operative
based on the concept managing water resources. Similar body needs to be formed
in the panchayats like Mudimudugu in
the state of Karnataka.
Rainwater harvesting should be
made compulsory across the state, said
Ramesh Kumar former MLA.Water
budgeting should be made understood to
the villagers. It involves explaining the
demand and supply chart to the people
with every day utilization and explaining
how it can be used.Using management of
artificial recharge ought to involve a component of better informed communities.
Communities ought to be posed with
such questions as What after watershed
development and artificial recharge during the post-project management phase.
It is important that the communities
are made aware of the possible effects of
all bore wells running dry. Specifically in
Mudimadugu, communities need to be

informed about the limitations of uncontrolled extraction of groundwater resources and the need for increased
community involvement in groundwater
management and artificial recharge.
It is important that the villagers
know the crisis that they might face soon,
their villages are at a point rainwater harvesting is also becoming difficult to yield
results, said Vijay Kumar, team leader
FES.Creating the awareness stakeholders
on their resources through Kalajathas or
any other communication methods. It
involves different style of communicating
like street plays, explaining case-studies
etc, said Diwakar, FES.
According to the report of Water Resources 2003 out of the total cropped area
of 10.80 million hectares minimum of it
irrigated. Advanced irrigation should be
encouraged in order and push them into
less water intensive crops like Cereals
(ragi, maize, and bajra etc.,) or vegetables
and other flowering plants against high
water intensive crops like sugarcane and
paddy.
A cropping budget should be prepared before hand to ensure the yield and
avoid waste of water and other resources.
Meteorological equipments such as rain
gauges, and water level indicators should
be installed so that the community monitors the resources themselves. Having a
waterman in each panchayat to ensure
safe, proportionate and adequate amount
of water to the village.
The Mudimadugu panchayat has not
only dug bore wells for the purpose of
agriculture but also for drinking purpose.
The water woe in the panchayat is a reflection of the failure of the attempts
made by the government to sensitize people in conserving available scarce resources. Water, being the source of life is
been rapidly disappearing from the
groundwater table in any form. Also, uncertain monsoon and polluted surface
water have left a grim situation to be addressed at earliest.
Getting pressing solution to tackle the
water problems in the area may sound to
idealistic however one may agree that diverting governments expenditure persistently on propagating alternative
measures will be a healthier thought
while the national level water linking
proposals are under a process to be real.