Water rationing likely as inflow to Thumbe dam declines

As the inflow in Nethravathi river to Thumbe vented dam, which supplies drinking water to the city, is dropping drastically, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) may be forced to go for rationing of water supply, MCC Commissioner Mohammed Nazeer said. 

He told reporters that the inflow of water has come down to 0.521 cusecs. The water level in the dam stands at 4.8 metre. As a precautionary measure, the MCC will announce its plan on rationing of water supply within a week. The water storage at Thumbe vented dam and at AMR Power Pvt Ltd’s vented dam at Shambhoor on the upstream of Thumbe is sufficient for supplying water for 132 days. In the backdrop of deficit monsoon last year, the MCC is taking all precautionary measures to face any kind of emergency, he added.

The city is comparatively better when compared to other urban areas in the state that are already facing acute shortage of water, he said.

Mayor Harinath, who will complete his one-year tenure on Thursday, hoped the city will not face water shortage this year.

The district administration has already appealed to MRPL to advance its annual maintenance shutdown during the summer, so that water drawn from Shambhoor dam will be reduced. Anticipating water crisis, the MCF has already taken up its annual maintenance of 45 days. This in turn will help the city corporation to use water for drinking purpose rather than supplying it for industrial use. About 2 MGD water is being supplied to MCF from Thumbe, he explained.

It may be recalled that when the city faced acute water scarcity last summer, hostels of educational institutions were forced to send students home and industries
had stopped production temporarily.

Construction debris
To a query on construction debris being dumped beside the road, Mayor Harinath and Standing Committee for Town Planning chairman Lancelot Pinto said the MCC has identified two acres of land near Kunjathbail for the dumping of construction debris.

The city corporation council in February had passed a proposal for the construction of road at an estimated cost of Rs 1 crore, to the site identified for the purpose. The public can dump the debris at the site by paying a fixed amount to the MCC, he said. 

Civic workers’ salary
Nazeer said the government has issued a set of guidelines to all the urban local bodies to make the payment for the civic workers directly by entering into a tripartite agreement. Accordingly, the 631 civic workers employed by Antony Waste Handling Cell Pvt Ltd (agency that has been entrusted with the responsibility of door-to-door garbage collection) will be paid directly by the MCC from April 1.
He said the direction of the government comes following the complaints on contract agencies failing to make proper payment to the civic workers in various urban local bodies.