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Nelamangala: People's movement is slowly, but surely bringing life to Kumudvathi river system

5th of Mar 2017

Nelamangala: The water rejuvenation project being executed in Nelamangala taluk might just be the answer to Bengaluru's water requirements.

If all goes well with this project, this Kumudvathi river system that ultimately drains into the Tippagondanahalli reservoir can augment the supply of much needed water to Bengaluru's ever growing needs. And the work is being carried out by people who believe that with small steps, changes can be made to not only help the villagers and their cattle, but also to Bengalureans even during summer.

Today the state is in the grip of a crisis with lack of water in major dams. There is just 11 tmc feet of water in all the four reservoirs in the Cauvery basin. Bengaluru itself requires 1.6 tmc feet of water a month and the other 47 towns and 633 villages in the Cauvery basin require as much as 1.2 tmc feet of water. So, the situation is extremely precarious and the authorities have no other option, but to reduce the quantum of release per day to the city to tide over the crisis until the onset of the monsoon.

That is where the Kumudvathi river can come to the rescue. This river flows across 278 villages covering 460 sq.km in 3 taluks and can augment the river Cauvery's water supply to the city. However, for the past many years, due to various reasons such as encroachment and over use of ground water, the river has literally dried up. To add to the mess, the planting of Eucalyptus trees has also sucked up what little ground water is left.

But today spurred on by the Art of Living, a movement was initiated that brought together experts in various fields to save and also demonstrate the viability to rejuvenate the Kumudvathi river. With the help of remote sensing and GIS tools, the project began way back in 2013-14 and the work has now been completed in 120 villages out of 270 in the river basin. Using ancient knowledge mixed with modern techniques, the team has put in place various methods to enable the revival of natural water sources existing in the form of springs, base flow in the stream network, groundwater and many more.

Their action plan is nothing like rocket science, but one that can be adopted by the government throughout the state. "The whole river basin has a good network of streams, along them we are constructing boulder checks to control the speed of running water, reduce erosion and also increase soil moisture. Next we have dug recharge wells to accelerate the natural process of groundwater recharge along with injection wells to recharge deeper aquifers," is what Dr. Lingaraju Yale, a Geohydrologist tells India Today. They have also constructed water pools at the joining entry points of the stream and the water body to enable availability of water for the villagers and their cattle.

To create micro eco-restoration cells around each water pools, Dr. Lingaraju tells us how they are raising natural vegetation including species of medicinal, fruit and flower yielding plants to attract birds, bees and to also provide fodder for cattle saying, "The native species of trees will accelerate the process of groundwater recharge."

A local villager and a former gram panchayat president, R Suresh is extremely happy with the way things have panned out. To see water in summer in their village was something they had forgotten until the river rejuvenation project began. "There is water for our cattle and for the farmers this has come as a lifeline," he says.

 

Courtesy: India Today