Mangaluru: The district administration, which was busy handling Lok Sabha election so far, now has a greater challenge at hand.
The water level at Thumbe vented dam is dropping day by day, leaving people high and dry. During the last summer, the district did not face any water scarcity as the catchment areas of the Nethravathi river had received enough rain in March and April. Though rain lashed the catchment area like Subrahmanya and Sakleshpur this year, the inflow of water has not started yet. Considering this situation, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) has already started water rationing and asked the public to use existing water carefully.
The water level at Thumbe dam stood at 5.33 meter against the maximum storage level of 6 meters, on Saturday. Last year, the water level during this period was 5.7 meter. This dam is 343.50 meters long and has 30 automated gates. The dam has the capacity to store water up to seven meters and at present only six-meter water is present.
As per the water rationing method of the MCC, water would be supplied for four days continuously and stopped for next two days. If there is no rain, the same system will be continued until May 15. The system will be revised once the catchment area of Nethravathi gets enough rainfall, sources from the MCC informed.
However, people have a different opinion on the present system of water rationing. If some people say that water should be released every day for limited hours, some others say the present system should be continued. However, it is inevitable for the MCC to opt for water rationing.
Mangaluru South MLA D Vedavyas Kamath informed that the MCC should not go for water rationing as there is enough water storage in Thumbe vented dam. JDS district spokesperson Susheel Noronha informed that the MCC should withdraw rationing system as poor people don’t have proper facility to store the water.
Industries stop functioning
Dakshina Kannada district Deputy Commissioner S Sasikanth Senthil informed that the Mangaluru Special Economic Zone industries have completely shut down operations owing to water scarcity. The MRPL too has shut down also partially.
