Thumbay vented dam to undergo dredging

• More sand than water

Mangaluru: The district administration of Dakshina Kannada has decided to undertake dredging work at the vented dam at Thumbay which supplies drinking water to the city. The dredging work is expected to help augment storage of water in this dam.

Recently, the union department of environment had permitted the district administration to undertake emergency dredging operation to remove sand after; a huge pile of sand had built up below the water inside the dam. The deputy commissioner formed a committee headed by the assistant commissioner with some city corporation officials to monitor and execute the work. The committee has been given permission to call for tenders, and thereafter, undertake dredging work.

Earlier, sand accumulated in the well from where water is pumped from this dam was blocking the pumping work. Therefore the sand accumulated in the well had been removed. This operation was again conducted two weeks back by suspending water supply for a day. However, currently there is no idea about the amount of sand that has got accumulated in this dam. As per the current stand of the district administration, the extracted sand will be used for government works.

More sand than water

During the earlier dam, all the gates were opened during the rainy season thereby allowing the sand to flow out. However, after the new dam was built, some of the gates remained closed thus giving rise to accumulation of sand. Although the water level now in Thumbay dam is five meters, actual water accumulation is much lower, considering that huge quantity of sand has got stored at its bottom.

Water level to be increased by Nov end

The current dam allows storage of water up to a height of seven meter; however the level of water has been maintained at five meters in view of problems which might be encountered by many farmers, if the level was raised. However, the water level will be raised to six meters like last year once the inflow reduces by November end.