The Arkavati is an important mountain river in Karnataka, India, originating at Nandi Hills of Chikkaballapura district. It is a tributary of the Kaveri, which it joins at 34 km south of Kanakapura, Ramanagara District called

Sangama Mekedatu is a location along Kaveri in the border of Chamarajanagar and Ramanagara Districts. From this point, about 3.5 kilometers downstream, the river Kaveri flows through a deep and narrow gorge. Mekedatu' means 'goat's leap' in Kannada. T ...

in Kannada, after flowing through Ramanagara and Kanakapura. The river drains into the Chikkarayappanahalli Lake near

Kanivenarayanapura Kanivenarayanapura is a village located 6 km from Chikballapur, 3 km from Nandi Town and 2 km from Muddenahalli in Chikballapur District of Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southw ...

. Kumudavathi and Vrishabhavathi rivers are tributaries to this river. It forms ''Chunchi falls'' near Haroshivanahalli. It joins Cauvery river as a tributary near

Mekedatu Mekedatu is a location along Kaveri in the border of Chamarajanagar and Ramanagara Districts. From this point, about 3.5 kilometers downstream, the river Kaveri flows through a deep and narrow gorge. Mekedatu' means 'goat's leap' in Kannada. ...

Course

The river originates in the Nandi Hills in the Chikkaballapura district and flows through Ramanagara and Kanakapura before it eventually drains into the Chikkarayappanahalli Lake near Kanivenarayanapura. The Arkavati joins the Kaveri river around 34 km south of Kanakapura in the Ramanagara District. The river has three tributaries;

Kumudavathi River The Kumudavathi river is a minor river that flows to the north west of the city of Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Ka ...

, Suvarnamukhi River, and

Vrishabhavathi River The Vrishabhavathi River is a minor river, a tributary of the Arkavathy, that flows through the south of the Indian city of Bangalore. The river was once so pristine that the water from it was used for drinking and used by the famous Gali Anjane ...

History

The river has historically been used as a source of drinking water in Banglore and the surrounding regions.

Kingdom of Mysore Period

In 1891, when Bangalore had a population of just 180,000 people, the then dewan of Mysore,

K. Seshadri Iyer Sir Kumarapuram Seshadri Iyer (also spelled Aiyar) (1 June 1845 – 13 September 1901), was an Indian advocate who served as the 15th Diwan of Mysore from 1883 to 1901. He was the second longest serving diwan of Mysore after Diwan Purnaiah. He ...

realized the lack of a dedicated water source for the city and took up the construction of the Chamarajendra Waterworks at

Hesaraghatta Hesaraghatta Lake is a manmade reservoir located 18 km to the north-west of Bengaluru in Karnataka state, India. It is a fresh water lake created in the year 1894 across the Arkavathy River to meet the drinking water needs of the city. Sir ...

across the river. The reservoir was designed to supply water for up to 250,000 people. By 1918, the population of the city had already reached 250,000 and the reservoir was running dry. The Sir M Visvesvaraya committee recommended the construction of Tippagondanahalli reservoir which was commissioned in 1933. The first stage was designed to provide a daily supply of 27 million liters per day (MLD) of water for a population of 300,000. However, even this was not enough and, so, modifications were made to cater to the population of one million in 1956. Eventually, the Chamaraja Sagar reservoir was insufficient and the government had to turn to the Kaveri to fulfill the water needs of Bangalore.

Decline in 1980s

It has been widely agreed upon that the destruction of the Arkavathi came about in the 1980s. This was a time when Bengaluru was urbanizing rapidly, which not only increased the demand for drinking water but also created scarcity for manual labor in the peripheral areas. As a result, the cost of labor went up. Added to this, the demand for firewood went up and as part of social forestry, the forest department distributed free eucalyptus seedlings to farmers. Eucalyptus is a water-intensive tree that uses up a large quantity of groundwater. This, in turn, reduced the groundwater levels in the catchment areas of the river and severely affected the water flow.

Efforts at Rejuvenation

In 2005, the Arkavathy-Kumudvati River Rejuvenation Committee was formed to rejuvenate the river. But there were no further steps taken except forming the committee. The

Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is the premier governmental agency responsible for sewage disposal and water supply to the Indian city of Bangalore. It was formed in 1964. Water supply BWSSB currently supplies approximately ...

(BWSSB) attempted to purify the river through aerator systems to increase dissolved oxygen and a series of plants that remove pollutants and also to reduce the inflow of sewage into T.G. Halli.

References