Thumbe dam water level dips, MCC anxious

The water level in the Thumbe vented dam, which supplies drinking water to Mangaluru city, has reduced from 6 metre to 5.45 metre after the inflow of water from the Netravati to the dam came to a halt.

About 160 MLD of water pumped to the city daily from Thumbe, about 40 MLD was lost between Padil and Thumbe.

In fact, about 200 MLD (million litres a day) of water was being used daily, including by the Mangaluru City Corporation, Mangalore University for its campus, Bantwal town municipality and farmers from Thumbe.

The water from the dam is also supplied to Ullal and Mulki as well. The MCC officials had already visited AMR Power Pvt Ltd’s dam at Shambhoor, Disha power project dam near Kadaba, Sagar Power project dam at Uppinangady to assess the water level. In fact, the sandbed of the Netravati river is visible downstream from the Thumbe vented dam.

The dam has the capacity to store water up to seven metres and at present, it is stored up to six metres. When water is stored up to a height of 7 metre, 14.78 MCM of water can be stored in the dam. At present, only 10.83 MCM is stored in the dam.

The vented dam is 343.50 metre long and had 30 automated gates. Last year, the water level during the period was 5.7 metre.

If the water-level declines drastically, then water from AMR dam will be released to the river Nethravathi to quench the thirst of the citizens. The officials feel that the water supply unlikely to be affected.