MANGALORE: A group "Alliance for water" has been formed for water management of the Nethravati river.

The alliance will hold its first session "Nethravati River Basin Stakeholders meet" which will be held on two days starting on Saturday. There are four partners in the alliance including the district administration of Dakshina Kannada, Department of Applied Mechanics and Hydraulics of the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), non-government organisation Task Force, and Dakshina Kannada Parisarasakta Okkoota. The alliance claims to be the "authentic voice" of all stakeholders involved in the management of the Nethravati's water. The alliance feels that the management of the waters should be given a holistic approach. It should look into the economic aspects, and address issues on water resource engineering, conservation, agriculture and horticulture and law, as the river is the only source of water for Mangalore city and one of the major rivers of the State. Outlining the concept of the alliance, Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada H.V. Parshwanath told presspersons here on Thursday that the concept has been evolved over a period of two months with all stakeholders in mind, particularly the domestic, agriculture and industrial segments.

Panchayats, town municipalities, the Mangalore City Corporation, the New Mangalore Port and other fishing ports and minor and major irrigation programmers, ground water and watershed development authorities, will be consulted about the course of action to be taken to manage the river water in such way that all stakeholders get their share.

Drinking water source

The river water is a source of drinking water in villages and towns and is used for irrigation by about 10 lakh farmers on around 3.5 lakh hectares of land.

Mr. Mayya said despite good rains in the region there is shortage of water in the district during the summer.

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