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Water ration in Mangaluru city starts April 18, today


Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Apr 18, 2019: Acute shortage in  storage of water at Thumbe vented dam, the hub of  drinking water supply to Mangaluru city, and inflow into the Netravathi having stopped , Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) will resort to water rationing from today April 18,  Thursday.


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MCC officials indicate, water supply to the entire city will be stopped from 6 p.m. on April 18 to 6 a.m. on April 20 for 36 hours. Later, it will be supplied for four days or 96 hours till 6 a.m. on April 24. Again it will be stopped for 48 hours and the rationing cycle will continue.

Water storage level at the dam stood at 5.49 m on  April 17,  Wednesday against the maximum storage level of 6 m. The evaporation loss varies depending on the temperature. An official said that if water is stored up to 5 m, with the current rationing cycle, the storage is enough for 30 days of supply to the city but not enough to meet next month’s full demand. If taken into consideration that it might rain from June, there would be water shortage for 10 days of supply to the city.

Terming the situation alarming, DK DC Sasikanth Senthil S. said the summer showers are insufficient so far.  The water  stored at Thumbe should last till the first week of June when the monsoon can be expected normally.

DK DC  Senthil said an analysis of 28 years of rainfall data has shown that monsoon showers will begin from the first week of June. He said that if the rainfall was delayed, the administration would switch to plan B that involves supplying of water through tankers.

He said the sluice gates of AMR dam, which is upstream of Thumbe dam, was opened on April 9 and water was allowed to downstream to Thumbe.

The Mangaluru Special Economic Zone industries have completely closed down operations, while the MRPL is in partial shut down.