A 50-year-old underground sewage pumping main line to a length of 11.15 km in the South-West part of the city is all set to be replaced.
It is because the old line has become weak and cannot carry the sewage load now due to urbanisation. As a result, sewage is leaking in storm-water drains polluting the nearby water bodies.
Mangaluru City Corporation council has approved a ₹ 76.50-crore project proposal prepared by the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) for the purpose. The project would be taken up under a scheme called Karnataka Integrated Urban Water Management Investment Programme (KIUWMIP).
It would be a challenging task, a KUIDFC official said and added that concrete roads in some parts of the city may have to be cut for cross laying the new main line. Asked about cutting the concrete road, the official said that according to engineers who prepared the project report on laying the new line, the concrete road may have to be cut for laying the pipeline horizontally and not much for laying vertically.
The old main line in Kudroli, Pandeshwar, Kandatpalli, Mulihitlu and Jeppu Bappal areas would be replaced. The new line would be laid by taking into account the quantity of sewage going to be increased for the next 30 years, i.e., till 2046.
The line would be replaced between Kudroli and Kavoor, Kandatpalli and Kudroli, Mulihitlu to Cascia Church and in Jeppu Bappal. The girth of the old line between different pumping stations varied from 250 mm to 750 mm. The new line to be laid would be between 450 mm and 1,100 mm in girth. The old pumping line was laid in 1970-71 to cater to the needs of 1.80 lakh population. But as many residential apartments and commercial establishments have come up in the South-West part of the city, the main line cannot take the increased load.
