The water that Bangalore was depending on to tide over the shortage till the South-West monsoon is almost gone.  The live storage at Hemavathy reservoir has been wiped out.
Some water is being released to the big cities of Bangalore and Mysore from the dead storage. But Hassan has been largely denied its share.
Barely 48 hours after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said water supply in all cities in the Cauvery basin will be normal, an official source told Express: “Pumping of water from the dead storage at Hemavathy Reservoir will be stopped from Tuesday keeping in view the supply of drinking water to Hassan city. The authorities were pumping water at the rate of 5,000 cusecs daily to be supplied to Bangalore city from the Krishnaraja Sagar Reservoir.’’
A source said around three tmc ft of water is still available at Hemavathy Reservoir. Since the level has gone beyond the dead storage,  it is very difficult to draw water, the source pointed out.
Last week, officials had dispelled fears of a crisis, saying they would draw water from the Hemavathy in case the KRS dried up.
The silver lining is that the situation at KRS appears to be slightly better. Though the live storage is still less than one tmcft, the inflow  is at the rate of 2,500 cusecs through the day due to some rain in K R Nagar and surrounding areas. Following this, officials at KRS have increased the speed of outflow towards Bangalore from the rate of 750 cusecs to 1,000 cusecs.
 Expressing unhappiness over the release of water to KRS from Hemavathy to meet the needs of Bangalore, Hassan MLA H S  Prakash said: “Instead, the government should at least give permission to install one more jack well near the dead storage to lift water for Hassan city.’’