[maddy42]

Did you folks hear about the railway line through coorg. Thats going to cut atleast 1 lakh trees and hit the source of river cauvery the most. When our politicians dont value the environment and everything is just money, we can expect to get nothing in return.

Please help us raise our voice to be heard. North of Karnataka already faces drought like conditions. Soon the south will be dry too!

Maddy

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by maddy42

Did you folks hear about the railway line through coorg. Thats going to cut atleast 1 lakh trees and hit the source of river cauvery the most.....

Do you have more details we can refer to? While I haven't heard of this particular situation, I did notice that quite a number of trees were being felled to widen roads in the areas around Madikeri (Boikeri to be specific where I witnessed it personally), in many cases encroaching upon people's estates without their consent.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Do you have more details we can refer to?

Although a bit off topic, here's a report that talks about the proposed railway line.

Sources said that a new station at Periyapatna would be included in the proposed route so as to link it to the proposed Mysuru-Kushalnagar (Kodagu) railway line, for which a survey is being conducted....

The rail network will not disturb any of the protected places such as Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagarahole National Park and Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka.

Some other perspectives:

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[ramzsys]

If aforementioned water use has drained water from agricultural use then we should have seen prices of agricultural goods hit new highs.

Since this is not happening, i guess all is well and our country may be able to support even higher population density? Thoughts?

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Do you have more details we can refer to? While I haven't heard of this particular situation, I did notice that quite a number of trees were being felled to widen roads in the areas around Madikeri (Boikeri to be specific where I witnessed it personally), in many cases encroaching upon people's estates without their consent.

Daily driver did share some. The news about the Mysore Kushalnagar line is older as the work has already progressed for the same. The new line is via south coorg to kerala which has the groups in coorg alarmed.
https://starofmysore.com/thalassery-...-south-kodagu/

The reason is not for any ulterior gains. We are a rain water fed agricultural area. We depend on rains for our livelihood. Chopping of trees has already caused monsoons to drop and also untimely rains and worse off, Madikeri gets 40 degrees of heat over the summer.

Few points which we have noticed:

• Climate has changed and untimely rains.
• Well levels have dropped precariously. Borewells are getting deeper.
• Man Animal conflict currently exists and this rail line will just increase more elephants coming and causing damage to life and property.
• LaxmanThirta which joins Cauvery begins at Irpu falls. This river already runs dry from Feb - June.
• Sandmining is already widely prevalent which has stopped the flow of the river.
• The district of Coorg, Mysore, Mandya and Bangalore is supplied with Cauvery water. This area is not drought prone currently. Imagine the plight of the folks if rains are missed. The Best CM Karnataka ever had, was politically ruined just coz his term got Droughts for 5 years.
• Tamil Nadu will suffer further if the river dries up.

Originally Posted by dailydriver

Although a bit off topic, here's a report that talks about the proposed railway line.


Some other perspectives:

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2

Originally Posted by ramzsys

If aforementioned water use has drained water from agricultural use then we should have seen prices of agricultural goods hit new highs.

Since this is not happening, i guess all is well and our country may be able to support even higher population density? Thoughts?

I highly doubt it. There is a point when you cannot pay for water. Imagine price of water inflating. Majority of our country is rain fed. How much further are you going to go to get water to feed people? Why cant we just not pollute our rivers and maintain our environment. Its cheaper source of water than any desalination plant in the world.

All the lakes in bangalore could feed bangalore, Instead we have to pipe water from Cauvery for the same.

Maddy

[AltoLXI]

Bangalore is listed second and the only Indian city in the list of cities that might run out of drinking water in near future.

Local officials in the southern Indian city have been bamboozled by the growth of new property developments following Bangalore's rise as a technological hub and are struggling to manage the city's water and sewage systems.

To make matters worse, the city's antiquated plumbing needs an urgent upheaval; a report by the national government found that the city loses over half of its drinking water to waste.

Like China, India struggles with water pollution and Bangalore is no different: an in-depth inventory of the city's lakes found that 85% had water that could only be used for irrigation and industrial cooling.

Not a single lake had suitable water for drinking or bathing.

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[Chetan_Rao]

The water crisis is getting worse, and we haven't even hit summer yet.

Several borewells in my area have run dry and new ones are being sunk, which are significantly deeper and water quality is worse. My office commute takes me across town, and the same's happening everywhere.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

The water crisis is getting worse, and we haven't even hit summer yet.

You said it man! I really don't know what this summer has in store for us!

I've grown up in the eastern part of Bangalore and water shortage is really nothing new for me. Right from childhood in the 80s, this part of town saw a dependence on water tankers. With the number of apartments and the number of mini-apartments (3-4-storey structures where only one 30/60-by-40 house is supposed to be) springing up, the situation has gotten worse. Thankfully it's only my wife and I at home, so we can manage nicely with 'just' the BWSSB Cauvery water supply. All my neighbors with bigger families/kids need their bore wells. We stopped using our bore well water a long time ago because it was very hard water. Cant' imagine what it's like now.

Funny thing is we're still the only ones on our street who have implemented rainwater harvesting. We manage almost all the outdoor water requirements (plants, washing the yard, etc.) with just rainwater stored during our monsoons. Last rains water just ran out last week. And with more showers due soon, I think it will be just a matter of time before we can stock up again.

Just like our traffic situation, I think the water situation can be managed if people would utilize what we have more efficiently and with some civic sense instead of trying to grab and hog whatever is available. And if the authorities clamp down on senseless usage by influential parties. On my way to office everyday I see that the various software parks with 'Eco' in their name have flowing water as a part of their outdoor decoration. Fountains, mini-waterfalls, etc. Even if they are recycling that, IMHO it's a stupid waste of water considering the situation in the city.

[Chetan_Rao]

The worst bit, is the same people who agitate against water sharing and cry themselves hoarse about water shortage, are exactly the ones hosing down their buildings and yards twice a day like clockwork.

[centaur]

At the risk of going slightly OT here, I would like to point out that the same is the case in Pune as well. We have good rains or not, the reservoirs are full or not, every year, without a delay on the 1st of Jan, the water supply to our society is reduced to way less than half of what we actually need on a daily basis. Then starts the dependence of water tankers and the water that we get through tankers is very hard. Not to forget the hefty tanker bills each and every year and this is the case with most of the housing complexes around.

Coming to the point, I think most cities like Bangalore and Pune have seen an unprecedented growth in the last 5 to 7 years. Even though measures like rain water harvesting and sewage treatment plants were made mandatory by authorities for the new societies, there is hardly any compliance or is not up to the mark. The water from Sewage Treatment plant for e.g. can be used in the toilet flushes or in the worst case scenario, to water the plants and the garden. Rain water harvesting greatly increases the ground water table but who cares or bothers. There is no one to check the compliance by the builders and completion certificate is given basis the weight of the packet than the actual compliance of the project. Its high time that government pulls up its socks and cracks down on such developers who have done nothing for the environment in general

[AltoLXI]

Former president Dr Abdul Kalam had made a presentation on the importance of water conservation. It mentioned year 2070 when the world would likely to run out of water. Looking at the the situation in Cape Town, looks like the late president's predictions are already coming true.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ReV...ature=youtu.be

[ksameer1234]

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

Former president Dr Abdul Kalam had made a presentation on the importance of water conservation.

While the need for water conservation can not be stressed more and the shared video indeed paints a scary yet very probable picture, I would like to highlight that this video has no connection to our former president. As mentioned at the start of video, this is from an article published in the magazine "Cronicas de los Tiempos" in year 2002.

[Chetan_Rao]

One would think a century is enough time to realise there's no unanimously acceptable legal or political solution to this.

This is about communities, sharing a scarce resource and managing to co-exist, and the only place a lasting solution can come from. There actually was a bi-partisan Cauvery Family initiative to that end, but scuttled by the usual suspects.

Depending on people who've done everything in their power to turn urban water bodies into poisonous flaming dumps and ensuring rainwater harvesting is just a fancy term on budget proposals isn't going to yield anything.

Water will get scarcer, demand will go up, and the only way to co-exist is to figure out workable solutions within and between communities.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

One would think a century would be enough time to realise there's no unanimously acceptable legal or political solution to this.

This is about communities, sharing a scarce resource and managing to co-exist, and the only place a lasting solution can come from. There actually was a bi-partisan Cauvery Family initiative to that end, but scuttled by the usual suspects.

Depending on people who've done everything in their power to turn urban water bodies into poisonous flaming dumps and ensuring rainwater harvesting is just a fancy term on budget proposals isn't going to yield anything.

Water will get scarcer, demand will go up, and the only way to co-exist is to figure out workable solutions within and between communities.

I agree except the rain water harvesting part. Citizens need to play their role in doing this. They are helping themselves since no one will help them.

We as people are also scared to speak up which is only encouraging those who can do anything they want. Is the judgement resolving the issue, I dont think so, distribution is still based on absolute numbers and not in percentage terms. So, we can expect things to play out every year.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by srishiva

.... Citizens need to play their role in doing this. They are helping themselves since no one will help them

Precisely what I meant to say. People need to take control themselves, and do whatever is in their capacity to manage and conserve water without waiting for govt. initiatives. I would even venture maintenance of lakes and urban water bodies would be much better served by being localised.

.....Is the judgement resolving the issue, I dont think so, distribution is still based on absolute numbers and not in percentage terms. So, we can expect things to play out every year.

This will never get resolved in courts or legislature, esp. the latter because the issue is worth more to them if left unresolved.

Communities need to take charge and work together.