April 18: Water rationing begins from

Mangaluru: Thumbay vented dam supplies drinking water top Mangaluru city. But due to the stop in water inflow from Netravati Rive, the rise in temperature and lack of rains has caused a major depletion of water level at the dam forcing Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) to resort to water rationing from Thursday, April 18^th.

According to MCC officials, water supply to the entire city will be stopped for a period of 36 hrs from 6 p.m. on April 18 to 6 a.m. on April 20^th. Later, water will be supplied for four days or 96 hours till 6 a.m. on April 24. This will be followed by another 48 hrs and thus shall the water rationing cycle shall continue.

Water level at 5.49 m

On Wednesday April 17, the water level at Thumbay dam stood at 5.49 m against the maximum storage limit of 6 m. The loss of stored water to evaporation is relative to the temperature. As per the current rationing cycle, if the water level stood at 5 m then it would last for another 30 days. However, there is no enough water to completely meet next month’s water supply for the city. If rainfall is expected from June, the city will still face shortage in water supply for 10 days.

Speaking on the alarming situation DK Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil said, the summer showers are insufficient so far.  The water stored at Thumbay should last up to the first week of June when the monsoon can be expected normally, he informed.

An analysis of 28 years of rainfall data has shown that monsoon showers will begin from the first week of June. If the rainfall is delayed the administration would switch to plan B that involves supplying of water through tankers, he added.

Industries at Mangaluru Special Economic Zone have closed down their operations completely while, partial shutdown is in effect at MRPL.