With the water-level going down further in the Baje reservoir across the Swarna, the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) on Friday urged the people in the city to limit and be cautious in usage of drinking water.
In a press release here, Meenakshi Bannanje, municipal president, said that the water-level was declining in the Swarna river at Baje dam. This would create a severe scarcity of drinking water.
Hence, the general public should not use drinking water to water their gardens or construction of building or washing their vehicles.
Drinking water should be used in a limited manner and for essential purposes only, she said.
According to an officer in the CMC, the water-level in the Swarna at Baje dam stood at 2.63 metres on Friday. Last year, it was 3.17 metres on the same day. “Last year, there had been some rain upstream. Consequently, the water-level was high. But this year, there has been no rain upstream the river so far,” the officer said.
The amount of water in the Baje reservoir would be enough for the city for the next 10 to 12 days. The evaporation of water from the river too was high.
Personnel of Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (MESCOM) had disconnected power supply to irrigation pumpsets of farmers living by the side of the river a month ago, so as to conserve water in it.
“But we have now got information that some farmers residing near the river banks are using diesel pumpsets and pumping water from the river. We will carry out inspection immediately and take action against them,” the officer said.
Meanwhile, elected representatives and officers in the municipality are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that there would be some pre-monsoon showers in the coming weeks as it would ease the water problem.
“If the water situation worsens, we will have to pump water from deep pits on the riverbed and supply it to Baje reservoir. There are some such pits in the riverbed,” the officer said.
