‘Mangaloreans, stop wasting tap water’

With the mercury rising in the coastal city, water woes have also started growing. The city is in throes of one of its worst water crises ever since it got tapped water in 1992. The Nethravati river, Mangalore’s only source of water, is fast drying up, with enough reserve for the city’s needs for next 20-25 days.

The river, which used to have flow into Thumbe reservoir till the end of April, has now gone dry. Thumbe reservoir engineers said the reservoir has not received water in the past six days. Without an early rainfall in the Western Ghats region, there is no hope of the situation improving.

“This situation has developed due to the extreme heat wave condition. Usually, the reservoir would have water to sustain the city’s supply system for more than 45 days, but this time, it has a deficit of 50%,” said Mangalore mayor Gulzar Bano.“We have already alerted the hotels to regulate water supply. Every subscriber in the city will get a letter from city’s council not to use water for gardening, washing vehicles and restrict use of tap water to drinking, cooking and other domestic uses,” said council member Ashok Kumar.

The Mangalore City Corporation water supply division has already stopped water supply to small industries. “We are left with no choice. Supply of drinking water is our first priority and everything else comes next. We have also regulated the outflow of water to Mulki and Ullal towns and reduced the volume by 50%.

But there is nothing to worry as the private water dams built across the course of the river upstream by MRPL and AMR companies have enough stock. If the situation goes out of hand, the deputy commissioner has the option to direct these companies to release water,” said corporation commissioner Harish Kumar.