The Hindu : Karnataka / Mangalore News : City heading for water shortage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 08, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mangalore

City heading for water shortage

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE, SEPT. 7. Mangalore, which relies on the Netravati and the Thumbe vented dam for its water needs, now appears to be heading towards an imminent water shortage much before the expected time — February 2005 (beginning of summer).

According to the city leaders, the reason is that 22 million gallons of water a day are being pumped from the Thumbe Reservoir to various storage facilities in Mangalore and as the Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environment Management Programme (KUDCEMP) has taken over the water distribution system in a big way bringing more areas into the distribution chart. The water available in the Netravati might not be enough for catering to the needs of the Mangalore City Corporation areas till February.

Study

The former Mayor of Mangalore, K. Diwakar, who is keen on making a study of the water distribution system in the city, feels that with over 800 kilometres of water lines in the old Mangalore Municipality area (before 1985) and the present corporation area being laid, there will not be enough water for everyone under the regulated system. The city's population has touched the 4.85-lakh mark in the corporation area and the estimated population growth in 2010 is 6.5 lakhs. The KUDCEMP water project was aimed at providing water to this population, according to Mr. Diwakar.

Optimistic

The Mayor, Purandardas Kuloor, was more optimistic. He told The Hindu that under the KUDCEMP programme, the corporation was laying the pipeline all right but there was also a proposal of having another barrage across the river course constructed at seven meters depth above the existing water level at the Thumbe Reservoir. This could hold three times the volume of water in addition to the existing water augmentation levels.

Earlier, there was a survey to construct the second barrage near the Buntwal Inspection Bungalow, which can also feed Buntwal town. But there have been apprehensions about the level of submersion, and according to the KUDCEMP engineers, there will have to be a second barrage somewhere nearer to the existing vented dam, which will act as a "slave barrage" to the new dam.

Leakage

But there was also a horrifying thought about the phenomenal leakage at the existing storage facilities. According to a rough estimation, the Mangalore City Corporation was spending enormous funds on pumping water from Thumbe into the storage reservoirs and those reservoirs were leaking. The corporation officials on conditions of anonymity agreed that there had been not less than 18 per cent to 20 per cent leakage in all storage facilities, which caused a loss of Rs. 3 crores every year.

Silt

The river course was also shrinking because of silt formation, according to conservationists. Throughout the course of the river, there has been heavy de-forestation and increased human habitation. This has caused run-off of the topsoil into the river and the conservationists point out that this is making the river shallow and the run of the river was faster and quicker into the sea. Silt formation has reduced availability of water during the non-monsoon period, they point out. The MLA from Mangalore, N. Yogish Bhat, says the purity of the Netravati water is being affected because of the release of effluent from Buntwal town. This calls for another stream of development projects in and around Buntwal, including the setting up of an effluent treatment plant and drainage system and wet wells.

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