While exuding confidence that water stored in Thumbe vented dam will last till May end for supply to the city, Mayor Premananda Shetty on Wednesday asked people to adopt water rationing between March and May.
Speaking after performing Ganga puja to the Netravati at the dam, Mr. Shetty said that water at the dam has now been maintained at 6 metres and the inflow of water will continue for another 10 days.
“With regular monitoring of Thumbe vented dam and AMR dam, which is on the upstream of Thumbe, there will be no problem in meeting the drinking water needs of the city till the onset of monsoon,” he said, while expressing the need for citizens to use water judiciously.
Works estimated at ₹35 crore have been taken up at the dam premises under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme. This includes construction of a 20 MLD (million litres per day) capacity water treatment plant. The jack wells were being upgraded to improve pumping capacity. Under the Jalasiri scheme, an 87.7 MLD water treatment plant was being upgraded. Action is being taken to harness 5% of water that was going to the drain as backwash water and this will get about 8 MLD of water additionally, he said.
“Many of the water works will be completed in the next few days and more water will be available for citizens,” he said.
Drone survey
In response to the demand by former Mayor M. Shashidhar Hegde for storing water at Thumbe upto 7 metres, the Mayor said the MCC has planned to retain water at 6.6 meters. Accordingly, a survey of the lands that will be submerged has been carried out using a drone and reports will be submitted to the tahsildar. “Once the extent of land that will be submerged is known, we will send a proposal to the State government for allocation of funds,” he said.
Mr. Shetty said he has spoken to the Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra and asked him to advise AMR dam personnel not to generate electricity in these three months and direct them to release water, whenever necessary, to Thumbe dam. Steps have been taken to ensure the right mix of chemicals for water treatment and also ensure supply of clean drinking water to people, he said.
Earlier, Mr. Shetty, Deputy Mayor Sumangala, former Mayors Diwakar, Mr. Hegde, and Bhaskar K., Leader of Opposition in MCC Council Abdul Rauf and in-charge MCC Commissioner Dinesh Kumar participated in the programme.
