The river originates in the Nandi Hills in the Chikkaballapura district and flows through Ramanagara and Kanakapura before it eventually drains into the Chikkarayappanahalli Lake near Kanivenarayanapura.

In 1891, when Bangalore had a population of just 180,000 people, the then dewan of Mysore, K. Seshadri Iyer realized the lack of a dedicated water source for the city and took up the construction of the Chamarajendra Waterworks at Hesaraghatta across the river.

This was a time when Bengaluru was urbanizing rapidly, which not only increased the demand for drinking water but also created scarcity for manual labor in the peripheral areas.

Added to this, the demand for firewood went up and as part of social forestry, the forest department distributed free eucalyptus seedlings to farmers.

[3] The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) attempted to purify the river through aerator systems to increase dissolved oxygen and a series of plants that remove pollutants and also to reduce the inflow of sewage into T.G.