CM scheduled to visit treatment plant today to avert water crisis

Mandya: Cauvery water supply to Bengaluru was disrupted this morning as the main water treatment plant at Tore Kadanahalli (T.K. Halli) in Malavalli taluk operated by the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWS&SB) was flooded due to heavy rain that has been lashing since yesterday evening.

Considering the gravity of the situation, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is scheduled to visit T.K. Halli today and will hold meetings with officials to avert a crisis situation.

The water treatment plant is located near Halagur and is 80 kilometres from Bengaluru. Due to massive flooding, water has entered the machinery, bringing them to a grinding halt. All the water treatment rooms have been flooded as rainwater gushed inside.

Water released from the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) Dam reaches the T.K. Halli treatment plant where the drinking water is purified to be supplied to lakhs of homes in Bengaluru.

The rains have also blocked the Kollegal-Kanakapura Road. The treatment plant has been partially submerged and unless the water level recedes, the machines cannot be repaired.

More than half of Bengaluru’s population depends on water supplies from this water treatment plant and the BWS&SB said that two of its plants have been inundated, resulting in a halt in water treatment. Officials said that they have some water in the storage tanks but if they are emptied, Bengaluru city will stare at a crisis situation.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that he would visit the plant today at noon and discuss measures to be taken with the concerned officials. As per the latest reports, the CM was scheduled to fly from Bengaluru at 2.30 pm and land at Malavalli Government College. He will later travel by road from the College till T.K. Halli.