A Report By Shridhar Bangalore Mirror Reporter
Clean-up of old ‘kalyani’ pays rich dividends
Students kindle hope of Arkavathi flowing once again
• Toiling for 11 days atop Channagiri, a 46-member team from a city college has unearthed seven dormant feeder springs which are oozing water again
Sridhar.Vivan @timesgroup.com
When a group of 46 students embarked on an 11-day NSS camp in Februaryend, little did they know they would stumble upon a water source that was once the lifeline of Bangalore. It was a routine trip for the BCom and BBM students of the city-based R C College. They climbed Channarayaswamy Betta, aka Channagiri, next to Nandi Hills, with the intention of desilting an old pond (kalyani). Though Nandi Hills is the origin of the Arkavathi river, it is the stream from Channarayaswamy Betta that is a major feeder of the river.
It was not an easy climb for the youngsters. Nandi Hills has a motorable road to the summit, but Channarayaswamy Betta does not even have a foot trail, and trekkers have to negotiate bushes and boulders on the way up. When they reached the top, the students were shocked to see the ‘kalyani’ filled with mud. NSS officer Tripura said the pond looked like a dumpyard, with plastic bags and other discarded items covering the entire area.
The 46-strong group, of which as many as 22 were girls, began to clean up the pond with a vengeance, and did not let up for the next five days. They would have breakfast at their base camp at Doddarayappanahalli village, climb two kilometre to the summit and get on with the digging till late in the evening, when they would return to base camp.
Their patience paid rich dividends. At end of the fifth day, one of the students noticed water bubbling up from a natural spring. Back at the scene the next day, they found the entire area filled with water. A pump was pressed into service to drain off the water, and at the end of 11 days of persevering labour, seven long-dormant springs had been unearthed. “The sight of the springs oozing water was an out-of-the-world experience,” one of the students said.
The development is good news for all those who have been working towards the rejuvenation of the Arkavathi. A tributary of the Cauvery, the river had for long been a source of drinking water for Bangaloreans. Two reservoirs — Hesaraghatta and Chamarajasagara (Thippagondanahalli) — were built across the river in 1894 and 1933 respectively. The Hesaraghatta dam had a storage capacity of 997 million cubic feet and used to supply water to Bangalore. Later, the city started getting its water from Thippagondanahalli.
Sadly, Hesaraghatta went completely dry a decade ago, while Thippagondanahalli has been hitting the dead storage level year after year. “The drying up of the Arkavathi has led to a water crisis in Bangalore. It has forced the water boards to depend on the Cauvery. There has been talks often to get water for the city from either Netravati or Almatti”, said Janardhan Kesargadde, an activist associated with the Arkavati and Kumudvati rivers rejuvenation committee.
The rediscovery of seven springs at Channarayaswamy Betta may not mean that the river will start flowing again as it once did. But it is an eye-opener to how community efforts like that of the students can go a long way in rejuvenating the river. “What the students have done may seem small, but it is a significant step. It is high time all the stakeholders get together to bring back greenery in the catchment areas and clean up encroached lakes and ponds. Besides, the springs will provide sustenance to birds and animals in the area,” said Kesargadde.
Another water expert, Vishwanath S, also lauded the work of the students. “We need to clean up all kalyanis and lakes and take the Arkavathi movement forward,” he said. According to him, around 10 lakes between Doddaballapur and Channarayaswamy Betta need to be cleaned up while around 50 lakes between Doddaballapur and Hesaraghatta need urgent restoration work.
M R Seetharam, secretary of the rejuvenation committee and a watchdog-member of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, lamented the callous attitude of the public at large. “For many, the existing wells and kalyanis are nothing but dumping yards. You look at any well, you will see nothing but plastic and other discarded waste. This, at a time when the dependence on underground water sources is growing. There is a need to create awareness on a mass scale on lakes and cropping patterns. Even if we can create such awareness among 10 per cent of the people in the catchment areas, we can take this movement forward,” he said.
NEAR-DEAD TRIBUTARIES
The Arkavathi, which originates in the Nandi Hill ranges, joins the Cauvery at Sangama. The Kumudvathi and the Vrishabhavathi are its tributaries. While water level in the Kumudvathi has been dipping year after year, Vrishabhavathi which flows inside the Bangalore University campus has been reduced to a cesspool. Farmers suffer from skin allergies and cattle from edema. Villages in and around the Vrishbhavathi valley are plagued by pollution which has taken a toll on human health, crops and the ecology.
(Left) The pond looked like a dumpyard when the students first saw it, but following the clean-up act it got filled with water, oozing after years from feeder springs
Students drain out excess water from the pond
Its Great Work From Youth s
By Arkavathi Yuva balaga
