Mangaluru: As the catchment area of the Nethravathi river has not received proper rainfalls so far, the inflow into the river has been stopped, leaving the people and the district administration high and dry. The MCC has already decided to go in for water rationing, but civic groups of Mangaluru believe that if the district administration had succeeded in managing the pumped water from the Thumbe vented dam, there would have been no need for water rationing now.
It is said that around 1,700 lakh litres of water is being pumped from the Nethravathi river on a regular basis. Considering the total population, which completely depends on the Thumbe vented dam for its drinking water needs, the MCC spends around 135 litres of water on a person, per day. If so, around one lakh litres of water is quite enough to meet the drinking water needs of the people.
As the Thumbe vented dam also provides water to industries like the MCF and MRPL, it has to reserve around 300 lakh litres of water per day, which takes the total consumption of water up to 1,300 lakh litres per day. If 1,700 lakh litres of water is being pumped from the dam and 1,300 lakh litres of water is being used by the general public and industries, where is the surplus of 400 lakh litres going?
Padmanabha Ullal, a retired engineer of the MCC (water supply), who is also a member of the MCC Civic Group claims that the lifted water from the dam either goes waste due to leakage in the pipelines or is swallowed up by illegal connections.
It can be recalled that former MLA J R Lobo convened a press conference a few days ago and admitted that the water is being wasted due to a leak in the old pipeline. He had also clarified, in the same press conference, that if the fund reserved under KUDCEMP scheme was used to change and install a new pipeline, the current situation would not have cropped up.
Apartments forced to depend on tankers for water
Due to the water rationing, those who are residing in apartments are forced to purchase water from private water suppliers. An apartment located near Urwa has already purchased eight tankers of water after the rationing began on April 18. People need to pay Rs 1000 for a full tanker (700 litres of water). People suspect that the MCC’s move to ration water has been made to help the people engaged in this business.
K S Linge Gowda, Executive Engineer of the MCC (Water Supply) denies any such irregularities in water supply through tankers. “If anyone has doubt in this regard, they can file a complaint with the proper documents to prove their allegations,” Linge Gowda told Newskarnataka.com.
Cleaning of open wells already begun
Linge Gowda also informed that measures have been already taken to clean around 48 open wells in the MCC’s limits and water is being provided to the residents of elevated areas. He also clarified that water is being provided to these areas free of cost. If those supplying water demand any money, the people can complain to the MCC, he informed.
