The eighth lecture in the series titled "Living rivers, dying rivers" was delivered by Leo Saldanha and Bhargavi Rao of the Environmental Support Group (ESG). The lecture held on at the India International Centre, New Delhi January 28, 2012 highlighted the complex challenge faced by the much abused rivers of Karnataka because of anthropogenic threats like mining in catchments, dam construction and waste disposal into rivers. The series coordinated by Prof. Ramaswamy R Iyer aimed at understanding what has been happening to rivers across India and in drawing appropriate lessons. A certain number of rivers, some sick or dying, some living and healthy, and some showing early signs of sickness, are being taken up for presentations and discussion, in the series and an attempt made to understand what has gone wrong in many cases, what has gone right in some, and what needs to be done to revive and restore dying or sick rivers. A blog on the lecture can be viewed at the India Water Portal here - http://www.indiawaterportal.org/post/33646

1. Living Rivers, Dying Rivers – Indian International Centre Lecture Series
Living Waters: Cauvery
Stuffed Rivers: Vrishabhavathi-Arkavathi
Leo F.Saldanha and Bhargavi S.Rao
Environment Support Group
1572, Sapthagiri, Outer Ring Road, Banashankari 2 nd Stage, Bangalore 560070
Tel: 91-80-26713559/60 Email: esg@esgindia.org
Web: www.esgindia.org

2. Cauvery
She craved to serve humanity, but her
husband Sage Agasthya, did not want
her out of his sight.
Turning her into sacred waters, he
carried her everywhere he roamed, in
his Kamandala.
Claustrophobic, unwilling to suffer
such bondage, Cauvery prays to be
set free.
Naughty Ganesha descends as a crow
and gamefully knocks over the
Kamandala, spilling Cauvery.
With boundles joy she flows to fulfill
her desire to become the breath of
life.

3. Celebrating life,
Revering Cauvery
Kings bequeathed land along
her banks to attract the best
talent.
Her waters fertilise fields and
forests, a lifeline to millions.
Revered everywhere she flows,
exemplified by countless
temple towns that are
littered on her shores.
Replete with life, memories
and stories, a very River of
Life.

4. Cauvery's waters
Cauvery's flow is augmented
by her many tributaries:
Kabini, Kapila, Hemavathy,
Shimsha, Lokapavani,
Arkavathy, Bhavani and
many others.
Each of these tributaries
draws waters from an
intricate nework of tanks.
Together they enhance river
flow that improves supplies
for farming and urban
supply.

5. Cauvery Basin

6. Bengaluru Drainage Pattern

7. Greater Bangalore Watershed

8. Sacred origins of Vrishabhavathi
An inscription on the 17th
century Nandi in Bangalore
mentions the place as the
source of a river.
Vrishabhavathi, (Vrishaba,
Bull), it is claimed, flows
underground for a while
before emerging as a
proper rivulet.
That flow now, hardly
resembles living waters .

9. Birth place of Vrishabhavathi today

10. Kempabudhi tank that feeds
Vrishabhavathi

11. Revering Vrishabhavathi's
splendour?
Sri Vyasaraya of Channapattana,
philosopher-saint and Rajguru of
the Vijayanagar Empire, was
enamoured by Vrishabhavathi's
grandeur.
In reverence, he established Gali
Anjaneya temple in 1425, at the
convergence of Vrishabhavathi
with Suvarnamukhi south west of
Bengaluru.
Today, the river is full of
Bangalore's sewage, which
seasonally spills into the temple.

12. Vrishabhavathi's banks are heavily
urbanised and industrialised

13. Vrishabhavathi or
Vishabhavathi?
Vrishabhavathi that
once breathed life to
the region, is now a
toxic river.
Its putrefying, dying
waters carrying
Bangalore's refuse feed
Arkavathy which soon
after joins Cauvery.

14. Vrishabhavathi passes through Sewage
Treatment Plants

15. A costly clean-up that fails to deliver

16. Largely untreated waters of Vrishbhavathi enters
Byramangala tank which irrigates vegetable gardens,
orchards, paddies, ragi and sugarcane fields

17. Byramangala Tank

18. Dark, Heavy, Toxic, Vishabhavathi!

19. A large bird population feed off the toxic waters

20. Vrishabhavathi Ground Water
Averages from 30 Samples

21. Vrishabhavathi flows dark and toxic for miles and miles

22. Vrishabhavathi, joins Arkavathy, and
together they feed Cauvery

23. Growing migration
to cities
Farming distress, low yields
and crop failures are causing
massive migration into cities.
Pollution is making farming
increasingly difficult in large
agrarian areas.
Mega urban-industrial
projects are disrupting lives
and livelihoods by the
thousands
A river that nurtured people,
now needs nurturing.

24. Aren't cities overreaching their
environmental limits
A city's ambition is quite
independent of its environmental
limits. Can this growth be
sustained?

25. Bangalore's sprawl at the cost of
water security
12
10
8
Column 1
6 Column 2
Column 3
4
2
0
Row 1 Row 2 Row 3 Row 4

26. Lifting Cauvery to
quench Bangalore's
thirst
Cauvery water is supplied to
Bangalore from 100 kms. away
and lifted over 500 metres
head.
This demands enormous
investment of energy and
infrastructure.
Cauvery waters meet needs of
half the city's populus. Rest
depend on ground water

27. 1 crore live in Bangalore today

28. Bangalore Water Resources

29. Water Economics for Bangalore

30. Blore Water Supply Demand Conundrum

31. Cauvery: Perpetually in Dispute?

32. Can Kabini Sustain a Super Thermal
Power Station?
3.9 TMC of Kabini water
allocated by Karnataka
for a slew of thermal
power plants near Mysore

33. How much water in Kabini?

34. Canal Withdrawals from Kabini

35. Kabini Water Utilisation