Context

The water level in the Krishna Raja Sagar(KRS) Dam in Karnataka is coming down because of increase in the evaporation rate and the decrease in the inflows due to summer.

About

• The Krishna Raja Sagara Dam (KRS Dam) was built across river Kaveri, the life giving river for the Mysore and Mandya districts, in 1924. 
• Apart from being the main source of water for irrigation in the most fertile Mysore and Mandya, the reservoir is the main source of drinking water for all of Mysore city and almost the whole of Bangalore city, the capital of the state of Karnataka.
• The water released from this dam is further used as an important source of water in the state of Tamil Nadu, which has its own Mettur dam in the Salem district.
• The dam is named for the then ruler of the Mysore Kingdom, Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV.
• The Chief Engineer, Sir M. Vishveswaraya engineered the construction of the dam during the Wadeyar kings regime in 1932.
  
  

  Kaveri River: The Kaveri, also spelt as Cauvery in its anglicized form, is an ancient river that arises from a gurgling spring at Brahmagiri hills in Kodagu district in Karnataka. This highly-revered river flows through Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. It is considered as the holiest river in southern India and is sometimes referred to as the ‘Ganges of the South’. There are a number of dams built along the meandering path of this river with the popular ones being the KRS (Krishna Raja Sagar) dam, Amaravathi dam, Mettur dam, Upper Anicut and the Kallanai dam.  The Kaveri is the third longest rivers in south India after the Godavari and Krishna. It forms three islands along its path where it has split, with the first two islands being at Shivanasamudra and another one near Mysore, forming the island of Srirangapatnam in Karnataka state. The third island is in Tamil Nadu where the Kaveri River splits into two at Tiruchirappalli city, forming the island of Srirangam.

  
  

  Water crisis & the case of India:

  • The country is suffering from "the worst water crisis in its history" from the past few years, placing millions of lives and livelihoods under threat. 
  • The groundwater level has been going down in almost all parts of the country.
  • Every year (from April to July every year), the water situation in at least eight states has been grim. 
  • With almost all of the country depending on monsoon rain for agriculture and domestic purpose, there is a desperate need for water management on a war footing.

  In the given situation, it is important that the impending water crisis is acknowledged at the policy level and urgent efforts made to estimate the true extent of this crisis and cope with this situation at the earliest.