Instead of every day, the residents of Mangaluru will from Monday get water in 36-hour intervals.
Announcing a water rationing plan here on Thursday, Mayor Kavita Sanil said inflow from the Netravathi to the Thumbe vented dam, which supplies water to the city, has stopped completely. The water level at the dam stood at 4.15 m on Thursday — this is enough for only 20 days of supply.
According to the rationing plan, there will be no water supply from 6 a.m. on Monday to 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The supply will resume from 6 p.m. on Tuesday till 6 p.m. on Thursday. Again, there will be no supply from 6 p.m. on Thursday to 6 a.m. on Saturday. It will resume from 6 a.m. on Saturday till 6 a.m. on Monday.
Ms. Sanil said that if the catchment areas of the Netravathi receive good rain and if the inflow resumes, the plan would be reviewed. The decision has been taken as a precautionary measure to avoid water scarcity till summer.
The commissioner of the corporation, Mohammed Nazir, said the vented dam of AMR Power Pvt. Ltd. at Shambhoor upstream of Thumbe had water stored up to 6 m. Deputy Commissioner K.G. Jagadeesha has asked Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. and Special Economic Zone Ltd. to lift only 10 MGD (million gallons per day) instead of 15 MGD from Shambhoor. Hence, pumping of water from the Netravathi has not been stopped completely.
The commissioner evaded a question on whether there was a system in place to check if the two companies were lifting more than this quantum of water.
The Mayor said the civic body would remove all flexes, buntings and banners in the city from next month. Only cloth banners will be permitted by the corporation, and those on religious events would be allowed on display till five days ahead of the event. Those who would like to put up cloth banners will have to pay a prescribed fee to the corporation , she said.
