Water rationing likely in Udupi

As the inflow in river Swarna has stopped, the City Municipal administration has started rationing the water supply to avoid the escalation of the problem during the scorching summer.

The CMC assistant executive engineer K Ganesh told DH that there are 83 centimetres of water when compared to the water level during the previous year in the Baje reservoir. Even this year the inflow of water stopped much later at around January 20 while in the last year the inflow stopped on January 2. Last year at this time, the bund put across the Shiroor reservoir was let open for the flow of water into the Baje reservoir. However, the bund is yet to be opened this year. The CMC has decided to segregate the entire municipal area into three zones to ensure proper water supply. He said in the previous year, the entire area was divided into two zones. The main intention is to offer water for three hours per day for each zone with high pressure even for the elevated areas.

He said there are 18,000 water connections and the number last year was 17,700. The tanker water supply would be the last resort. The rationing of water is designed in such a way that the water would be available for at least two weeks in the month of June, he said and added that the level of water on Wednesday in Baje reservoir is 5.93 meters when compared to last year which was 5.1 meters.