Udupi: The Swarna River in Mundli, which has been used to provide drinking water to the Municipality limits, has dried up. If the existing water is pumped into the water treatment plant at Ramasamudram, the water will dry up completely in a day or two. It is estimated that the drinking water will be sufficient for the next two weeks as the trizzling in the same environment will increase the inflow of water.
The vented dam was constructed at Mundli in Balmagundi under Durga Gram Panchayat when M. Veerappa Moily was the Chief Minister of the State. It was from here that water was supplied to the Ramasamudra Water Treatment Plant. Thereby, drinking water is being supplied to the Municipal limits.
After the Andhra
Pradesh-based power generation plant became operational at Mundli, the wooden gates attached to the vented dam were removed and a concrete retaining wall was constructed. As a result, during the rainy season, artificial floods in the environment led to inundation of many agricultural lands. This has resulted in damage to agriculture.
The Mundli Dam, which used to start the summer season due to siltation accumulated during the rainy season, is also facing acute shortage of drinking water.
The Swarna River, which overflows during the rainy season, is facing a drinking water crisis in Karkala Municipality and Udupi Municipal limits as the inflow of water is receding completely as summer approaches and the river is completely drying up during the hot summer season.
The accumulation of silt in the 12-feet-high Mundli Dam has increased. As a result, drinking water supply to urban areas is reduced as the water storage is decreasing.
