Mangalore, April 9: Water level at Thumbe vented dam which supplies drinking water to the city has dipped by eight inches in a week from early this month till Sunday, according to the water level record maintained at Thumbe pump house.
According to the record, water level at the dam slipped from 9.11 ft registered at 6 a.m. on April 1 to 9.3 ft at 6 a.m. on April 8.
The maximum water storage level at the dam is at 13 ft. and its dead storage level is at three ft.
Water level which remained 9.11 ft at 6 a.m. on April 2 decreased gradually later to 9.9 ft (Tuesday), 9.8 ft (Wednesday), 9.5 ft (Thursday and Friday), 9.4 ft (Saturday).
Commissioner of Mangalore City Corporation Harish Kumar K told The Hindu that inflow to the dam had not gone up. Hence the Corporation wanted to ensure that the water level did not come down below 8 ft.
If it did not rain in the catchment area in a few days the option before the corporation was to reduce supply by reducing lifting of water from the dam from the current 18 MGD (million gallons a day) to 19 MGD to 13 MGD.
Mr. Kumar said he was hopeful that the current storage in the dam would take care of the city's requirement until the end of the month. He said he was hopeful that the catchment area of the Netravathi including its major tributary the Kumaradhara was receiving scattered rain for the past few days the level of evaporation in the rivers might come down and there might be some inflow.
The Commissioner said the corporation had the option of supplying water from borewells.
KIOCL water
He said that the Corporation through the Deputy Commissioner, N.S. Channappa Gowda, was exploring the possibility of supplying water from Lakhya dam in Kudremukh by using the pipeline of the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd. (KIOCL).
Mr. Gowda had convened a meeting with KIOCL on Monday to discuss the matter.
The Commissioner said that though a case pertaining to mining operations of the KIOCL at Kudremukh was before the Supreme Court currently there was no ban on lifting water from the dam.
Mr. Kumar said that according to the KIOCL authorities, the company was drawing 2.5 MGD from Lakhya dam now. There was scope to draw six MGD from Lakhya.
Diversion
Water from KIOCL pipeline at Panambur could be diverted to the corporation's treatment plant at Panambur. In that case, Mangalore North areas could be supplied with Lakhya water and Mangalore South with Thumbe dam water.
Meanwhile, rainfall statistics in the office of the Deputy Commissioner for 2011 revealed that rainfall picked up in the district only after April 21.
According to it, Bantwal recorded 64.1 mm, Belthangady 26 mm, Mangalore 91.8 mm, Puttur 104 mm, Sullia 157 mm in April 2011. The rainfall recorded in May last in those places accordingly stood at 60 mm, 75 mm, 138 mm, 139.4 mm and 45 mm.
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