Erratic power supply hits water distribution

MANGALORE: Technically speaking, there is no water scarcity in the limits of Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) even during the peak summer months. Of late, the city is reeling under water scarcity in some parts, especially in the areas on the hilly terrain, thanks to Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation (KPTC).
The city, which has a population of four lakh as per the 2001 census, gets 20 million gallons per day (MGD) of water from the Thumbe vented dam at Bantwal.Even if 20 per cent of the 20 MGD is lost as leakage, an average household gets about 40 gallons of water per day.
Mangalore has 60,000 metered connections and the rest non-metered. Says J.R. Lobo, corporation commissioner, ``The civic body ensures at least 6-8 hours of water supply to each household in the city as the terrain is undulating. The low-lying areas get a 24-hour supply.''''
According to Lobo, when there are extended power cuts, there is stoppage of water supply for 24 hours due to the air build-up in pipelines. Till it is cleared, only the low-lying areas receive water.
Where the water pipelines have not been drawn from the main line, borewells are rigged and water provided, he pointed out.
Sources in the corporation note that sometimes `politics'' ensures shortage of water in some areas as the valve-men act truant. This correspondent spoke to some households in the 60 wards of the corporation and they also aired same views and did not have any water shortage.
The water supply position in the five taluks of the district is pathetic, especially in the summer months starting March. A zilla panchayat source said this was due to the sinking of borewells and lack of initiatives taken for tapping the surface water.
Sources said the water scarcity areas were scattered all over the five taluks. In villages, most people depend on wells and due to depletion of water table, water problem crops up during summer months.
According to sources, the only solution was tapping the surface water through check and vented dams as the geographical terrain was undulating.
Now, the ZP is in the process of implementing several major and minor schemes, especially the Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Supply Scheme.
In some rural areas, the problem is being mitigated as the corporation and town panchayats have been providing water through pipelines. According to ZP estimates, at least 40 per cent of the population in five taluks face a severe water shortage during summer.
Recently, district incharge minister Ramanath Rai said the government had released Rs 1 crore under various heads to alleviate the drinking water problem in the district.
These funds would soon be disbursed to panchayats and other agencies to mitigate the drinking water problem.
As an immediate measure, water would be supplied through tankers. Rai said Rs 10 lakh would be given to Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) for supplying water through tankers in problem areas.
Though he clarified that though there was no provision to sink new borewells under Calamity Relief Fund, that facility was available under funds sanctioned under other heads like the Urban Development Fund.
On the long-term plan for mitigating water problem in the district, he said several programmes were under the implementation stage and it would take at least two years for them to begin function.