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

File photo of Raja Lakhamagouda tank at Hidkal in Belagavi district. | Photo credit: PK BADIGER

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

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

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

“Some people are demanding to release water into canals to feed crops. But so far we have planned to use the water only for drinking purposes. 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 districts, there has been a slight reduction in discharge from the neighboring state.

On Friday, the outflow from Maharashtra was 89,442 cusecs, about 208 cusecs less than Thursday.

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

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

Published – 24 Jul 2026 20:55 IST