Govt. appeals to farmers not to use canal water for irrigation

The district administration has appealed to farmers not to use canal water for irrigation and use water judiciously.

As many as seven of the 15 taluks have received normal rainfall but the rest have received scanty rains. Overall, the district has 20% rainfall deficit. Compared to last year, the water storage in Hidkal and Navilutirtha reservoirs is less this year.

The government has instructed to use the available water for drinking purposes until next summer, Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Roshan said here on Friday.

“Some people are demanding to release water into the canals for feeding the crops. However, for now, we have planned to use the water for drinking purposes only. We will try to release water for agriculture if more water flows into the reservoirs in the coming days,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, due to reduced rainfall in parts of Maharashtra and Belagavi district, there was a slight reduction in the discharge from the neighbouring State.

On Friday, the discharge from Maharashtra stood at 89,442 cusecs, around 208 cusecs less than that on Thursday.

The Almatti dam had an inflow of around 84,611 cusecs and outflow of 67,500 cusecs. Live storage was around 89.3 tmcft against the full capacity of 123 tmcft.

The inflow into the Hipparagi Barrage was around 69,700 cusecs and outflow was 69,050 cusecs.