Dakshina Kannada & Udupi Water Supply & Sanitation Planning & Issues

[Krishnamoorthy K]

* Mangalore shares first prize along with Mysore at international conference

Mangalore City Corporation has been presented with an excellence award for the first position in solid waste management in the second international conference on solid waste management organised by Jadavpur University, Kolkata, last month, according to Mayor Praveen.

The Mayor told presspersons here on Wednesday that the Centre for Quality Management System at the university had organised the conference on “solid waste management and exhibition on municipal services, urban development, public works, and clean technology” from November 9 to 11 in Kolkata.

Mangalore City Corporation had shared the first position in receiving the award with Mysore City Corporation, he said.

Chairman of the conference Sadhan K. Ghosh and a professor at the university said that Mangalore and Mysore City Corporation had shared the first position among the three city corporations in the category of tier II city civic bodies having more than three-lakh population and assessed for their solid waste management. The third civic body assessed was Durgapur City Corporation.

Mr. Ghosh said a team of the centre had visited Mangalore in October for assessing its solid waste management system. Mangalore and Mysore City Corporations were chosen for the first position based on cer tain criteria of assessment. He said that the team members were in Mangalore for three days. Mangalore city was much cleaner when compared with many other tier II cities.

Mangalore City Corporation had bagged second position for solid waste management in the first international conference on solid waste management in 2009, he said.

He said that a biogas plant had become operational in city and some roads had been concreted.

The Hindu

[Krishnamoorthy K]

* Effluents from plant polluting water, they say

Residents of Kukkehalli in Udupi taluk have urged the district administration to take action against the alleged pollution caused by a fishmeal plant in the village.

Ramachandra Bhat, a resident of Kukkehalli village, told presspersons that the fishmeal plant at Punachuru area of the village, which started functioning a month ago, was causing pollution. The effluent from the plant was released in the nearby Madisal rivulet. There was a vented dam nearby against the rivulet. Whenever the sluice gates of the vented dam were closed, the polluted water flowed backwards. This had not only created water pollution, but contaminated the nearby wells. Even agriculture and dairy farming in the village had been affected.

Although it had been decided at the gram sabha of the gram panchayat not to allow the plant, yet the plant had become operational. He had approached the High Court on this issue.

Despite elected representatives, including Higher Education Minister V.S. Acharya and local MLA Lalaji Mendon, assuring the people that the plant would not be allowed to function, the people were now suffering the ill-effects of pollution.

Though the members of the village submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner M.T. Reju on September 20, action had not been taken to stop the plant. The authorities should take action to shutdown the fishmeal plant, Mr. Bhat said.

Satyanath Hegde said it was a puzzle as to how a fishmeal plant could be allowed 20 km from the seashore in the backwaters.

Residents of the village Prasad Hegde, Sitaram Udupa and Durgadas Shetty were present.

The Hindu

[Krishnamoorthy K]

-- Udayavani

Kannada daily 'Prajavani' has reported MSEZ is laying pipeline to take water from Shamboor Dam. Will this result in decrease of water flow to Tumbe dam during summer?

[Krishnamoorthy K]

-- Udayavani

[Krishnamoorthy K]

-- Udayavani

[Krishnamoorthy K]

-- Udayavani


-- Udayavani

[Krishnamoorthy K]

-- Udayavani

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Udupi: Udupi City Municipal Council has been awarded the top award at the International Conference on Solid Waste Management-2011 at Jadavpur University campus, Kolkata.

Speaking on the occasion the Chairman of International Conference on Solid Waste Management (Icon SWM-2011) Prof Sadhan K Gosh today said the Centre has proposed to introduce a number of schemes for solid waste management from 2013 to 2018 for people's safety.

Udupi was chosen from among 62 city municipalities which participated in the competition in the event that took place from November 9 to 11.

Udupi CMC was adjudged the best. Based on the available documentations, awards were given in the categories of city corporations, municipalities with a population of one to three lakhs and municipalities with less than one lakh population, he said.

Sahilonline

M'lore: Commerce Dept of St Agnes College Holds Community Awareness Campaign on Solid Waste Management

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Naina J A, Mangalore, Dec 22, DHNS:

The zilla panchayat engineering division of Dakshina Kannada has proposed to draw more water from the River Nethravathi. It is for supplying drinking water to 176 villages in Dakshina Kannada using surface water from other rivers such as the Payaswini in Sullia and the Gowri Hole in Bellare along with Nethravathi. The authorities have already submitted 30 surface water schemes to the State government.

The Vision 2020 document which was submitted to the CM says “Though Dakshina Kannada receives on an average 4,200 to 4,400 mm rainfall, the people of the district continue to suffer from severe shortage of water during summer. Hence, there is a need for permanent water supply schemes to draw water from the rivers by building vented dams.”

It had proposed lifting surface water for 30 schemes by building vented dams as water level in many borewells supplying water to villages decrease in summer. It was creating water scarcity. The proposal is awaiting the final clearance from the government. Jack wells would be built upstream of vented dams. Water from jack wells would be lifted and treated before pumping to overhead tanks from where it would be supplied to existing network of pipelines in villages.

The total project cost is Rs 44681 lakh. The surface water schemes for Mangalore is three at the cost of Rs 6050 lakh, Bantwal—9 at the cost of Rs 11040 lakh, Puttur—8 at the cost of 19091 lakh, Sullia—4 at the ocst of Rs 400 lakh and Belthangady—6 at the cost of Rs 8,100 lakh.

Now the Nethravathi supplies water to Mangalore city, Mulky, Ullal and villages under Thumbe, Pudu and Adyar Gram Panchayats between the city and Thumbe. In addition, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) draws water from the river.

The proposed schemes are— Konaje and surrounding areas to supply waterfrom Nethravathi to Belma, Amblamogaru, Harekala, Kotekar, Manjanady, Munnur, Someshwar, Talapady and Kinya at the cost of Rs 4,300 lakh.

Golthamajalu and four villages to supply water to Narikombu, Shambhur, Golthamajalu, Amtoor, Balthila at the cost of Rs 1000 lakh.

Sarapady and 13 villages (Rs 2000 lakh), Sangabettu and 16 villages to draw water from Phalguni and Nethravathi (Rs 2000 lakh), Mani and three villages (Rs 650 lakh), Naringana and nine surrounding villages (Rs 1,400 lakh), Kolnadu and four villages (Rs 1965 lakh), Sajeepamunnur and four villages (Rs 1000 lakh), Kariyangala and three villages (Rs 500 lakh), Alike and three villages (Rs 525 lakh), Pucchamogaru and seven villages (Rs 1250 lakh), Jalsoor and three villages by drawing water from stream (Rs 100 lakh), Bellare Kottige by drawing water from Gowrihole (Rs 100 lakh), Ajjavara and three villages by drawing water from Payaswni (Rs 100 lakh), Sampaje and surrounding villages (Rs 100 lakh), Ulaibettu and three villages minor irrigation project (Rs 500 lakh), 34 Nekkiladi and three villages (Rs 1331 lakh), Savanoor and three villages (Rs 1200 lakh), Kedambadi and Keyyur (Rs 1030 lakh), Uppinangady and nine villages (Rs 3,500 lakh), Kadaba and 13 villages (Rs 4000 lakh), Koila and five villages (Rs 3,500 lakh), Kaniyur and four villages (Rs 3,500 lakh), Narimogaru and Shanthigodu (Rs 1030 lakh), Neriya and surrounding villages (Rs 800 lakh), Shishila and surrounding villahes (Rs 1600 lakh), Charmadi and surrounding five villages (Rs 1,200 lakh), Laila and surrounding six villages (Rs 1,500 lakh), Ilanthila and three villages (Rs 1000 lakh), and Aladangadi and 11 villages (Rs 2,000 lakh).

DHNS

[Krishnamoorthy K]

-- Udayavami

[Krishnamoorthy K]

-- Udayavani

[Krishnamoorthy K]

-- Udayavani

[mangalore mania]

MANGALORE: After going online to provide water connections to consumers and issuing smart cards to select consumers, the water supply department of Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) has now set its eyes on fixing automatic meter reading (AMR) devices to connections under commercial and non-domestic categories. The civic body is planning to float an e-tender for AMR devices to cover around 5,500 connections in the aforesaid categories of consumers during the week.Premanand Shetty, chairperson of town planning and development standing committee, told TOI here on Monday that MCC has already approved a resolution to this effect in the general meeting of the council.

"The corporation earns a major chunk of water revenue from the above category of consumers," Shetty said, adding that the civic body will take up a drive to cover domestic consumers after the completion of AMR project.K S Linge Gowda, assistant executive engineer (water supply department) said MCC had studied the tender floated by Bangalore Jalamandali for AMR devices. Stating that rate for each meter in Jalamandali's tender was on the higher side, Gowda said this document has been provided to civic body's consultant for comparison. "We expect the cost to come down as per our consultant's idea of competitive-bidding process," he said.The advantage of going in for AMR devices, according to Shetty, is that it will give MCC a correct fix on exact quantity of water consumed by users under commercial and non-domestic categories. "Since they contribute a major share of the water revenue, we have decided to elicit experts' opinion before floating the tender," Shetty said.

Once this venture is successful, we will shift our focus to users under domestic category, he noted.Gowda said a Germany company, which has installed this kind of devices in Mumbai, has invited them for a live demonstration of their product. "The devices are capable of reading meters in 100-metre radius. The data generated is uploaded on to MCC servers and bills are generated and SMS alerts sent to consumers," he said, adding that the meter readers need not go in person to read meters.

[engineer.akash]

Cameras will keep an eye on compost plant

Plans afoot to install three cameras at the site in Pachchanady
Mangalore City Corporation will install three closed-circuit television cameras at Pachchanady to monitor the functioning of its compost plant and the sanitary landfill site, according to its Commissioner Harish Kumar K.

A camera would be installed at the plant to monitor the operation of the compost machine, the second one near the weighbridge on the premises of the plant, and the third at the sanitary land fill site, he told The Hindu.

Mr. Kumar said that the facility would be installed in such a way that the functioning of the plant and the site could be monitored from the corporation's office in Lalbagh.

The CCTV would have a 15-day back up of the footages. Later, the footages would be transferred to compact discs to be preserved.

The Commissioner said the CCTV cameras would be installed as it was not possible for the corporation to appoint staff at the plant and the site to monitor its functioning on a regular basis.

Madhu V. Manohar, Environment Engineer at the corporation in-charge of the plant and the site, said installing the camera and associated facilities would take a fortnight or a month. Telephone facility at the plant office was yet to be installed for enabling the monitoring at the head office at Lalbagh. Till then, the back up facility would be maintained at the plant office.

MANURE FOR SALE

Mr. Manohar said the corporation would now start selling vermi compost manufactured at its vermi compost pits in the premises of the compost plant.

The Standing Committee for Public Health, Education and Social Justice at the corporation had fixed Rs. 10 per kg. Those interested would have to make the payment at the corporation's Lalbagh office before purchasing it.

He said the corporation was mainly using vegetable and fruits waste and other biodegradable waste such as grass for making vermi compost.

There were 68 pits with each 15 metres long, 1.5 metres wide, and a metre deep. Each pit could store bio-waste of up to15 -20 tonnes at a time.

Mr. Manohar said the plant produced windrow compost from other solid waste processed.

It was being sold at Rs. 1.30 per kg. Windrow compost was “spicy” when compared to vermi compost.

As of now, “only one person purchases it as manure for coffee plants. It is not on regular basis,” he said.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

RAVIPRASAD KAMILA

The power generated will be usedat the plant and in Urwa market
The “Nisargruna” biomethanation plant set up by Mangalore City Corporation using the technology developed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, near Urwa Market here has begun functioning.

Environment Engineer at the corporation Madhu S. Manohar told The Hindu that the corporation had planned to use the energy (methane gas) produced at the plant to operate a generator.

The generator in turn would supply power to Urwa Market and operating machines at the plant.

He said the plan was to achieve self-sufficiency in power supply in operating the plant and supplying power to the market.

Mr. Manohar said the plant had been set up for reducing the quantity of bio-waste being transported to the corporation's compost plant at Pachchanady and instead use the waste to generate energy. With this, the corporation would achieve the twin objective of saving the cost of transporting the biowaste to the compost plant and reduce volume of waste being lifted from the market.

The biomethanation plant which started functioning in the last week of November 2011 had the capacity to process up to two tonnes of biowaste a day.

The two tonnes of bio waste could produce between 100-160 cubic metres of methane gas. It could produce up to 200 units of power, Mr. Manohar said.

“The plant produced 261 cubic metres of methane gas from November last week to first week of January,” Mr. Manohar said.

He said its operation had to be stopped later as its main digestion doom developed a snag. It was rectified and it started functioning a few days ago.

The plant had been set up by Wipro Eco Energy under the guidance and technology provided by Sharad Kale, Professor, Homi Bhabha National Institute, and Head, Pesticide Residues and Soil Science section Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division, BARC.

Mr. Manohar said the kitchen waste from some hotels, vegetable and green waste from Mannagudda, Boluru, and Derebail South-West wards were shifted to the plant for producing the gas.

The engineer said it took three months for the plant to reach its full capacity as bio-waste had to be fed in the quantity prescribed in phases.

For example, there would be no feeding of waste for the first fortnight after beginning the operation. In the next fortnight, 500 kg of waste could be fed. Between 31 days and 45 days, the quantity could be scaled up to 750 kg. Later, it could be increased to 1,000 kg, 1,500 kg, and up to two tonness for the 90th day in phases.

He said now the two motors, a compressor, and a mixer at the plant were being operated by using power supplied by Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd.

Mr. Manohar said the corporation council had approved the purchase of a generator.

Professor Kale told The Hindu that “Biogas generated in any biomethanation plant is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide.

The biogas generated in Nisargruna process contains more percentage of methane than the conventional process.

Since the percentage of methane is higher, the flame would be better, and calorific value higher in case of biogas generated in the plant.”

The Hindu

[Krishnamoorthy K]

MANGALORE: Public taps will be passe in Mangalore city soon. Alarmed by the growing misuse of this facility for personal use such as washing of vehicles, tapping into the main line and using it for watering plantations, the water supply department of Mangalore City Corporation on Wednesday started a drive to disconnect 1,485 public taps across the city.

These taps will be disconnected in a phased manner to reduce inconvenience to genuine users of the facility.

MCC made a start by disconnecting 60 such public taps on the first day in the central business district areas of the city.

K S Linge Gowda, assistant executive engineer (water supply department) told TOI here that misuse of these public taps was causing problem to users residing in elevated areas, who had to put up with inconsistent water supply and drop in pressure in the water running through the main lines connecting their respective units.

Acknowledging that this move would cause inconvenience to some genuine beneficiaries of the public tap system, especially households dependent on it for their daily use, Linge Gowda said the department will expedite the process of issuing individual metered water supply to such households in a one day.

"Such beneficiaries can avail the connection either under the general category or under Jala Bhagya scheme meant for the urban poor," he explained.

The applications submitted by beneficiaries for new connection will be processed in one day, he said, adding that based on the challan the new consumer could obtain individual household connection from the main line with the help of a professional plumber. This, he said, would ensure that more number of consumers joined the list of people paying and using the water and bring about greater sense of awareness on judicious use of precious water resources.

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

6. Soubhagya Sanjeevini:
Soubhagya Sanjeevini, a project for harnessing the water resources of the region, is the brainchild of the veteran experimental agriculturist and leader of this region Sri A. G. Kodgi. The state government has shown keen interest in studying this concept and the Department of Irrigation has expressed its willingness to undertake the study. However due to differing opinions in this regard, there are several misconceptions concerning this project and it has been variously labelled as ‘river diversion’, ‘river joining’, ‘river interlinking’ etc and concern has been expressed too that this project may give rise to conflict with neighbouring states. Hence Coastal Development Authority plans to initiate discussion on this subject and study the practicality of implementing the project.

Coastal Development Authority

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Udupi: Use of UPCL Fly Ash for Highway Widening Incenses People‎
DC inspects land for cement firm in Padubidri‎

If the flyash contains hazardous elements like mercury, arsenic then if these components are used for making cement then they will be in cement also. So, if we use it for building and then demolish them after the end of their life and use the relics for filling land then again the hazardous elements go into ground and water. So, my question is how do they ensure the cement manufactured is free of hazardous elements.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

MANGALORE: Laila gram panchayat, which is in news for its achievements in total sanitation, is set to become a role model for Karnataka. 'Safety-feel free', low-cost sanitary napkins manufactured by Isiri Self-Help Group (SHG) of the panchayat, will soon be made available to all girls studying in class 7 and 8 in Dakshina Kannada district. Thanks to the novel initiative taken by the district unit of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), as many as 10,250 girls in 126 government schools will get a set of sanitary napkins free. This is a part of awareness programme on sanitation.

The district unit of SSA has received an approval from the state unit, and an order has already been placed with Isiri SHG to supply 10,250 packets of five pieces each. Inspired by this, the state unit of SSA has also decided to include the novel programme in the state government's 'Kishori Project', which is aimed at educating girls on sanitation while they attain puberty.

Laila GP president Prakash Shetty told STOI that they have plans to set up another unit to increase the production of napkins. "Presently, we have a small unit where only seven trained women can work to produce 350-450 napkins a day. We have already written to Nabard to sanction funds to open a bigger unit to increase the production to meet increasing demand," he added.

SSA deputy project co-ordinator N Shivaprakash said Dakshina Kannada is the first district to initiate the novel programme of distributing napkins among the girls. "This programme is not part of the Kishori Project. We took initiative to purchase napkins from Laila GP using Rs 1.23 lakh, which is the balance amount of other SSA projects. State government is also inspired by the proposal and they have plans to include this idea in Kishori Project from the next academic year," he said, adding that all girls of classes 7 and 8 will be distributed napkins free throughout the year from next year.

Laila GP had set up the unit at a cost of Rs 7.33 lakh, wherein Rs 4.33 lakh was funded by Nabard. Women from Isiri SHG had undergone training in manufacturing napkins at Kaveri Matha Trust in Piriyapatna. Napkins are made using cotton derived from cellulose fibres.

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

-- Udayavani