Water level at Thumbay dam dips, MCC anxious

Mangaluru: Thumbay vented dam supplies drinking water to Mangaluru city and presently the water level at the dam has dipped from 6 meters to 5.46 meters. The fall in the water level is attributed to the stop in the inflow of water from the Netravati to the dam. This fall in the water level has caused great concern to Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC).

The vented dam supplies water not only to Mangaluru city, but also to Mangalore University campus, Bantwal town municipality and nearby farmers depend on the supply of water from the dam. The city uses 160 MLD of water daily, but nearly 40 MLD gets used up at the stretch between Padil and Thumbay itself. Given the fact that the water is distributed to various places, the daily requirement generally shoots up to 200 MLD.

Additionally, Ullal and Mulki also draw water from the same dam. Hence, in order to take stock of the situation, the concerned authority at MCC has visited the dam of AMR Power Pvt Ltd at Shamboor, the dam of Disha Power Project near Kadaba and the Sagar Power Project dam at Uppinangady. The situation is grave since the sand bed of Netravati River can be seen downstream.

The vented dam is 343.50 meters long, has 30 automated gates and has the capacity to store a maximum volume of 143.78 MCM of water up to the height of 7 meters. However presently, only 10.83 MCM is stored in the dam. The water level during the period last year was 5.7 meters.

If in case, there is a further dip in the water level at Thumbay vented dam, water from AMR dam will be let out to Netravati River to fulfill the needs of the city. Yet, MCC officials feel that there is a possibility that water supply to the city may fall short of requirement during the summer.