Drying up of Water Bodies Likely to Worsen Prevailing Water Crisis Across Karnataka

60% water requirement of the garden city Bengaluru is fulfilled by the Cauvery water. The Cauvery basin, because of deforestation over some time and changes in climate, has lost the ability to retain water, which is further compounded by erratic rainfall. According to Dr T V Ramachandra, Coordinator, Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, the landscape in Bengaluru has changed drastically over the years. In the 1800s, Bengaluru had 1,452 water bodies and 80% green cover. Today, there are about 193 water bodies and less than 4% green cover. In 1973 the Bengaluru landscape had 68% green cover and less than 8% paved surface. In this vein, the drying up of the water bodies is likely to worsen the prevailing water crisis across Karnataka. 

About 75% of lakes and tanks in 31 districts of the state have either dried up or will dry up soon. Tumkur and Belagavi are the worst hit following the failure of monsoons. 151 lakes of Tumkur and 184 lakes of Belagavi have the highest number of completely dried-up lakes. Though Tumkur has 371 lakes and Belagavi has 290 lakes, the highest for any district. These water bodies largely benefit recharge groundwater table in the region. According to the irrigation department, over 25% i.e., 964 water bodies have completely dried up and owing to a high evaporation rate another 50% i.e., 1846 have 10 % to 30% water which could last only a few weeks. According to the officials of the department, the average evaporation rate has increased considerably due to soaring temperatures with intense heat wave conditions resulting in fast drying up of water bodies.

In the entire Karnataka only 10 water bodies in the south are filled to the brim as they are covered under the lift irrigation scheme. The summer showers that have been coming for the past week could fill these water bodies. Bengaluru with six lakes have filled to their capacity. 19 lakes are 50%-90% full. Of the 800 lakes coming under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Greater Bengaluru and Bengaluru Urban, as many as 125 lakes have gone dry and 25 more are in the direction of drying up soon due to scorching summer heat. With 184 lakes under BBMP’s control, of them 50 lakes are in dire straits. 600 lakes in Bengaluru Urban and nearly 100 of them have dried up in 2024.