As many as 315 villages in drought-affected Kalaburagi district are likely to face drinking water scarcity during the peak of summer and considerable efforts are being made to address the problem and face the other challenges in the drought-hit taluks, Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer Bhanwar Singh Meena has said.
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, he said that of the 315 villages that may face drinking water shortage in the next three months, 86 are in Aland taluk, 40 in Kalaburagi taluk, 28 in Sedam, 23 in Kamalapur, 16 in Kalgi taluk, 14 each in Chincholi and Chittapur taluks, five each in Jewargi and Shahabad taluks and four villages are in Yaddrami taluk.
As of now, only 29 villages, 11 each in Afzalpur and Aland taluks and seven villages in Kamalapur taluk, are facing severe scarcity and water is being supplied to these villages through tankers from the local water sources (open wells), he said.
A comprehensive plan has been prepared to tackle drinking water shortage by reviving dried borewells, ensuring piped water supply and also drilling new borewells, where necessary, he said.
He said that of the 1,268 borewells in the district, 906 of them are working and a total of 357 old borewells have been identified as defunct as they have gone dry due to continued drought conditions in the district. The authorities have taken up flushing and redrilling of 413 borewells. They have completed flushing works in 157 borewells.
The administration is planning to hire 174 private borewells to supply water through 91 private water tankers to supply drinking water to villages facing water scarcity.
Responding to a question, Mr. Meena said that out of the 484 reverse osmosis plants in the district, 165 are not functioning.
The Animal Husbandry Department has procured 6.44 lakh tonnes of fodder which is sufficient for the next 30 weeks. The department has established 33 fodder banks across the district. As many as 39,361 mini fodder kits have been distributed to 13,061 farmers, he added.
Approval for borewells
Kalaburagi City Corporation Commissioner Bhuvanesh Patil said that even Kalaburagi city is likely to face shortage of drinking water this summer. As per domestic water consumption figures under normal conditions, each individual requires 135 litres of water per day. At present, Kalaburagi district is getting 80.16 MLD (million litres per day) against the required 108.68 MLD.
Mr. Patil said that the district is getting 52.62 MLD of water from Saradagi Barrage across the Bhima, which is facilitating drinking water for 43 wards in the city. As much as 22 MLD water is drawn from the Bennethora Reservoir to provide drinking water to 12 wards and eight MLD water is received through water bodies.
Besides this, the corporation has given approval for digging 100 new borewells in the city, Mr. Patil added.
