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 2nd
Stage, Bangalore 560070
Tel: 91-80-26713559/60 Email: esg@esgindia.org
Web: www.esgindia.org

2. Cauvery:Cauvery:
A Living RiverA Living River

3. The legend of 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.

4. Revering Cauvery,
Celebrating life
Kings bequeathed land along
Cauvery’s banks to attract
the best talent into their
cities.
Her waters fertilise fields and
forests, and is a lifeline to
millions.
Countless temple towns that
grace her shores exemplify
how deeply she is revered
everywhere she flows.
Replete with life, memories
and stories, she is the very
River of Life.

5. Cauvery's waters
The many tributaries that
augment Cauvery’s flow
include Kabini, Kapila,
Hemavathy, Shimsha,
Lokapavani, Arkavathy,
Bhavani and many others.
Each of these tributaries
draw waters from an
intricate and extensive
network of tanks built over
the centuries.
The river thus provide water
for farming, urban and
industrial needs.

6. Cauvery Basin spreads acros fourCauvery Basin spreads acros four
southern Statessouthern States

7. Bengaluru is within the Cauvery
Watershed

8. Greater Bangalore WatershedGreater Bangalore Watershed

9. Vrishabhavathi:Vrishabhavathi:
A Dying River?A Dying River?

10. Sacred origins of Vrishabhavathi
An inscription on the 17th
century Nandi mentions the
Bull Temple in Bangalore as
the source of this 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 .

11. Birth place of Vrishabhavathi in today’s
Basavanagudi, Bangalore

12. Kempabudhi tank, once fed rain that it
had gathered into Vrishabhavathi

13. Revering Vrishabhavathi's
splendour?
Sri Vyasaraya of Channapattana,
philosopher-saint and Rajguru of
the Vijayanagar Empire, was
enamoured by Vrishabhavathi's
grandeur.
In reverence and awestruck, 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.

14. Vrishabhavathi's banks are heavily
urbanised and industrialised

15. Dark, Heavy, Toxic
Vrishabhavathi’s Waters Now!

16. Vrishabhavathi or
Vishabhavathi?
Vrishabhavathi once
breathed life to the
region. Now it is
tragically called
Vishabhavathi - a
poisonous river.
Its putrefying, dying
waters carry
Bangalore's refuse,
which then feed
Arkavathy.

17. Vrishabhavathi passes through Sewage
Treatment Plants in South Bangalore

18. A costly clean-up that has notA costly clean-up that has not
delivereddelivered

19. Largely untreated waters of Vrishbhavathi enters
Byramangala tank which irrigates vegetable gardens,
orchards, paddies, ragi and sugarcane fields, and also
recharges ground water

20. Byramangala Tank – heavily polluted
and a major public health concern

21. A large bird population feed off these toxic
waters

22. Vrishabhavathi Ground WaterVrishabhavathi Ground Water
Averages from 30 SamplesAverages from 30 Samples

23. Vrishabhavathi flows dark and toxic for miles and miles

24. Vrishabhavathi, joins Arkavathy a major drinking
water source for Bangalore which then joins
Cauvery near Kanakapura, south of Bangalore

25. Growing migration to
cities from along these
rivers
Pollution of rivers is making
farming increasingly difficult
all along these rivers.
Low yields and crop failures
and overall farming distress
from along these rivers is
causing massive migration
into cities.
In parallel, mega urban-
industrial projects are
disrupting lives and
livelihoods of thousands.
A river system that nurtured
generations, now needs
nurturing.

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

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

28. 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, much
of which is polluted.

29. 1 crore live in Bangalore today1 crore live in Bangalore today

30. Bangalore Water ResourcesBangalore Water Resources

31. Water Economics forWater Economics for
BangaloreBangalore

32. Blore Water Supply DemandBlore Water Supply Demand
ConundrumConundrum

33. Cauvery: Perpetually inCauvery: Perpetually in
Dispute?Dispute?

34. Can Kabini, Cauvery’sCan Kabini, Cauvery’s
tributary, sustain a Supertributary, sustain a Super
Thermal Power Station?Thermal Power Station?
3.9 TMC of Kabini
water
allocated by
Karnataka
for a slew of thermal
power plants in
Chamalapura
near Mysore

35. How much water in Kabini?How much water in Kabini?

36. Canal Withdrawals from KabiniCanal Withdrawals from Kabini

37. Kabini Water UtilisationKabini Water Utilisation