Dharwad: Water woes have surfaced following scanty rains in the district. Many tanks and water reservoirs are left with less storage of water in Dharwad.

One such incident of water crisis came up on Sunday when the villagers opposed efforts of Water Board officials to draw water from the dead storage of Neersagar tank in Kalaghatagi taluk of the district. After stiff opposition from the people of the surrounding villages, the officials dropped the plan.

Neerasagar is the second big source of water in the region with a storage capacity of 1938 mcft of water and the dead storage amounts to 1021 mcft. The water from Malaprabha River in Belagavi district is supplied to Dharwad district. The Neerasagar tank caters to nearly 30 percent of water requirement of Hubballi. Drought in the last two years has led to the water scarcity in the region. Drawing water from the Neerasagar tank was stopped last Monday.

The officials who came to fix pipeline to draw water from dead storage had to return empty handed after villagers from surrounding Dummawad, Jodalli, Basavankopp, Kannenayakanahalli, Neerasagar, Lingankopp joined protest. The farmers who opposed protested said that drawing of water from the dead storage affects the ground water level in around 1000 acres of land besides hundreds of borewells in the region surrounding the tank. The wild animals from Western Ghat region who visit the tank during the night to quench their thirst would also be affected, they said.

The villagers have asked the water officials to formulate a plan to draw water from Tattihalla in North Karnataka to meet the water requirements of Kalaghatagi taluk. It is to be seen what the officials would do in this regard.