Hesaraghatta Lake

Hesaraghatta Lake
View of Lake in 2006
Location	Bengaluru, Karnataka
Coordinates	13°09′N 77°29′E / 13.15°N 77.49°E / 13.15; 77.49Coordinates: 13°09′N 77°29′E / 13.15°N 77.49°E / 13.15; 77.49
Type	Freshwater lake
Primary inflows	Arkavathy River
Catchment area	73.83 km2 (28.51 sq mi)
Basin countries	India
Surface area	4.50 km2 (1,110 acres)
Max. depth	27.44 m (90.0 ft)
Water volume	28,240,000 m3 (997,000,000 cu ft)
Surface elevation	861 m (2,825 ft)
Settlements	Bengaluru, KA-52

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 K. Seshadri Iyer, the then Dewan of erstwhile Mysore state and the then Chief Engineer of Mysuru, M. C. Hutchins, planned to build the scheme called the “Chamarajendra Water Works” to store a three-years' water supply to the city.

The lake is approachable by road from Bengaluru at a distance of 26.5 km to the north-west of the City.

The total catchment area draining into the Lake at the dam built on the River Arkavati is 73.84 km² (2189 mi²), out of which the direct draining catchment is 2.68 km² (6.86 sq mi²).There are 184 tanks built in the Arkavati river basin upstream of the Hesaraghatta lake. The River Arkavati originates in the Nandi Hills of Chikkaballapur district and joins the River Kaveri at Kanakapura after flowing through Kolar District and Bangalore Rural district... The Vrishabhavati and the Suvarnamukhi are the tributaries which drain part of Bengaluru and Anekal Taluk respectively into the Arkavati River. The catchment receives a mean annual rainfall of 859.6 mm.

The Arkavathy River is one of the two rivers which partially meet the water supply needs of Bangalore; the other being the Kaveri. The reservoirs created by building dams on the Arkavathy are the "Hesaraghatta" and the “Chamarajasagara” at Thippagondanahalli (TG Halli) built during the years 1894 and 1933 respectively. The Hesaraghatta dam is an earthen bund of 1,690 m (5,540 ft) with a total height of 40.55 m (133.0 ft) creating the Hesaraghatta Lake (reservoir) with storage of 997 M.Cft at full reservoir level with a lake surface area of 450 hectares (1,100 acres). Water from the reservoir is taken through initially a 1.4 m dia (42" dia) Hume pipe to the Soladevanahalli Pumping Station by gravity and then pumped (using steam pumps initially and later changed to electric pumps at Soladevanahalli) against a head of 115 to 135 m to the Combined Jewel Filters (CJF) plant at Malleswaram for treatment and supply to the consumers in the city.