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Tuesday, March 19

DK DC instructs officials to tackle ’water woes’ on priority

DK DC instructs officials to tackle ’water woes’ on priority


Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Mar 21, 2017: Chairing a meeting to convened discuss on water problem in the district, DK DC Dr K G Jagadeesha has directed the officials to respond immediately to water woes. He said that there is no shortage of grants for taking up water projects.

The funds to take up water related projects have been released to the local bodies. They have to submit a proposal to the district administration for additional funds, he added.  DC Dr.Jagadeesha directed the officials to respond to the water woes within 24 hours of receiving the complaints. If any place faces shortage of water, then the tahsildars should takeover private borewells to supply water, rather than waiting for the digging of new borewells. The gram panchayat development officers and village accountants should identify the areas that will face acute shortage of water and make necessary arrangements for the supply of water. The gram panchayats and urban local bodies should submit a report on supply of water in tankers to the DC’s office every week, he added.

The DK DC directed the Mescom not to delay the process of providing electricity connections to water projects. The Agriculture, and Horticulture departments and Mescom officials should ensure that private pumpsets are not used for drawing water from rivers. The water should be drawn only in case of emergency to irrigate the farm land, he said.

With the state government declaring Mangaluru and Bantwal taluks as drought-hit, the government has released Rs 2 crore to tackle drought. Rs 30 lakh each has already been released to these taluks. The DC said the district administration has written to KIOCL on drawing water from Lakya dam.

Water rations :  Even before the intense summer heat, the water supply system in the city has been hit with the Mangaluru City Corporation taking up rationing of the water supply, from Mar 20, Monday.

With the depletion in water level in Thumbe dam, the source of water supply to Mangaluru city, the officials from AMR Hydro Power Project at Shamboor on the upstream of the dam have started releasing water to Thumbe dam since Sunday.

As a result, the water level in the dam increased to 5 metres by Monday evening. The water-level was 4.3 metres on Monday afternoon. It was 3.98 metres on Sunday, the city corporation officials said.


Mayor Kavitha Sanil said if the rationing of water continued, then available water from AMR and Thumbe dam will be sufficient till May 25 for supply.

The MCC is ready to tackle water crisis and people need not panic, she added. She said she has written to the DC to stop water supply to industries completely.

With the MCC initiating rationing of water supply, the hotel and restaurants have started depending on tankers to supply water.
Nethravathi River almost dry in Uppinangady

It is clear that Nethravathi river has gone almost dry before the expected time in Uppinangady and the flow has stopped near Kumaradhara Sangama River. River Nethravathi is supposed to be flowing during all seasons. The water level decreases only after March and in the April-May season, the river has reduced to a trickle. This time, however, the water flow has stopped even before March-end. Due to low rainfall for two continuous years, the river has not been in spate. Now, the river basin has become a barren land.  The monsoon in 2016 was the weakest in the seven years starting 2010. According to the weather report, 2064-cm rain was recorded from January 2016 to December 2016 in the region. The amount of rain received in the district recorded in the same time period in 2015, in contrast, was 2983 cm.  There was also no post monsoon showers this time, which is the main reason that the river has gone dry.

With serious plunge in water levels in Uppinangady, the groundwater too has fallen drastically.   Shortage of drinking water is already being experienced and the water woes are expected to only worsen in the days to come.


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