Engineers and thinktanks of Mangalore have managed to go around a major roadblock in the way of fetching Bhadra river water.
Even as the talks of diverting the lifeline river Nethravati from west to east by some politicians have been going on, engineers and thinktanks of Mangalore have managed to go around a major roadblock in the way of fetching Bhadra river water from the hills of Kudremukh about 143 km from the city.
For this, the Mangalore City Corporation will not have to lay any new pipeline or pumping machinery to bring this water to the city. Instead, it will fall back on gravity and the 35-year-old iron ore slurry pipe laid from Kudremukh to Kulur in Mangalore, which now is in a state of disuse after mining in Kudremukh stopped in 2005.
“The pipeline can be used to connect the water source on top of the hill and transport the water with the help of the gravity to Mangalore,” Harish Kumar, Commissioner of Mangalore City Corporation, told DNA. “We have been working on this idea for a while, and if everything goes as planned, Mangalore should get water from Lakya next summer,” said MLA of Mangalore South, N Yogish Bhat.
Former mayor K Diwakar who had mooted the idea in 2005, said, “Earlier there was no response from councillors or officials since there was practically no cost involved. This meant no tenders, contracts or financial transactions. Now that there are talks of diverting the Nethravati river, these people have woken up.”
“The KIOCL, which is already reeling under a crisis as they do not have a captive mining site, did not shirk away from its part of corporate social commitment. It immediately agreed to the proposal,” said mayor, Gulzar Banu.
If the silt that has formed over the last 35 years can be removed and the dam is restored to its original depth, it could become a model water supply scheme. Students of NIT-K Surathkal have taken silt samples and are analysing it for possible commercial use, a KIOCL official said.
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