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Thumbe dam water-level falls, Mangaluru warned of shortage

The Mayor has appealed to citizens to make judicious use of drinking water supplied to the city
Last Updated 04 March 2023, 09:25 IST

With the drastic decline in inflow of water to the Thumbe vented dam, which supplies water to Mangaluru city in Karnataka, there is a strong possibility of the city facing a shortage of water in case the catchment area fails to get pre-monsoon showers still June.

To a query, Mayor Jayananda Anchan said that a team led by Commissioner Channabasappa had visited areas upto Uppinangady to verify the inflow of water to the river Nethravati recently.

“If the region receives pre-monsoon showers in March-April, then the city may not face water crisis. If the catchment areas fail to get rain, then the Mangaluru City Corporation will have to go for rationing of water. At present, we cannot predict the availability of water in May,” he said.

The Mayor has appealed to citizens to make judicious use of drinking water supplied to the city and not to use water for washing vehicles and watering plants in the garden.

He has directed officials to prepare a ward-wise action plan for the supply of water in April-May and detail the steps to be taken to ensure supply of water without any problems.

At present, the AMR dam situated upstream to Thumbe vented dam is full. There are two more dams upstream to AMR dam engaged in hydroelectricity generation. “In case of any shortage in the Thumbe vented dam, water will be released from AMR dam to fill Thumbe vented dam,” said former mayor Premananda Shetty.

The Thumbe vented dam, built across River Nethravathi, supplies water to Mangaluru, Ullal, Mulki and other villages en route to the city. Though it's a vented dam, with a capacity to store water upto seven metres, water is stored only upto a height of six metres. The water-level in the dam on Friday had reached 5.95 metres.

About 160 MLD (million litres per day) of water is pumped to Mangaluru from Thumbe. The water level in the Thumbe dam had come down to 3.48 metres as against the maximum storage capacity of six metres in 2019. Water cannot be lifted if the water level falls below 1.5 metres in the dam. Without any inflow of water to the dam, stored water will be sufficient for 48 days worth of water supply to Mangaluru city.

“Deputy Commissioner will be apprised of the prevailing inflow of water to river Nethravathi,” said Shetty.

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(Published 04 March 2023, 09:25 IST)

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