Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network-Udupi (HB)
Udupi, May 6: A meeting on drinking water issues was held on Friday May 5 at Sathyamurthy Memorial Hall in the city municipal council building here. The meeting was chaired by district in-charge minister, Pramod Madhwaraj.
Madhwaraj noted that the water at Baje reservoir on which the city is dependent for its water requirement, has reached dead storage level. He said that by conducting dredging at various places and utilizing water so obtained, the municipal council will be able to maintain water supply for 15 days by supplying water on alternate days. He also stated that 35 nodal officers have been given responsibility of monitoring water supply and addressing grievances in 35 wards of the municipality.
He added that taking into consideration that water from River Swarna would not be sufficient for the drinking water requirement of the city, drinking water supply projects worth Rs 102 crore will be implemented soon under Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environment Management Project (KUDCEMP) scheme. The council has divided 35 wards under it into three categories, A, B and C based on water requirement. The officials and councillors should always be prepared to respond to the needs of the public and should keep themselves on alert 24 hours of the day on all days of the week, the minister instructed at the meeting.
At the same time, he advised all the councillors to make the people understand the water scarcity faced by the city, and requested opposition councillors to cooperate with the administration in managing the crisis.
Janardhan Bhandarkar, who stated that there are 8000 apartments in the city, advised the city municipal council to check their water supply sources.
A quick decision will be taken on third stage of Swarna river project, which involves diverting Varahi river water to Shimbra dam to augment water resources of the city, the minister stated.
He instructed the officials of the city municipal council to temporarily acquire private wells to manage water problems.
A category areas are those where water problem is acute, and the officials should give first priority to those areas. B comes in the middle category and the areas which are not covered under A and B call under C, that requires no water. So nodal officers in charge of water supply should give more priority to places where there is high demand for water supply from the public, he advised. He also asked the concerned to keep tab on quality of water being supplied through tankers.
The Baje dam water level is 1.5 meters less than the last year's level during this month. It will be enough only till May 20. Dredging works are going on in many places, which will help to manage water for few days for the city, he stated.
CMC Commissioner, Manjunathayya, president, Meenakshi Madhav Bannanje and vice president, Sandhya were present at the meeting.