Dakshina Kannada & Udupi Water Supply & Sanitation Planning & Issues

[Krishnamoorthy K]

-- Udayavani

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Jaideep Shenoy, TNN Mar 18, 2012, 04.30AM IST

MANGALORE: Mangaluru Vidhansabha Kshetrada Matadarara Rakshana Vedike, an apolitical grouping of citizens, has come forward to supply water to 13 villages in Mangalore assembly constituency facing drinking water issues.

The constituency comprises of 24 villages and one town municipal council. However, the water scarcity is acute in 13 villages like Natekal, Badyar, Renjadi, Madani Nagar, Adu, and Thiplepadavu.The office of the Vedike will be formally inaugurated at PM D'Souza Complex, Kapikad, Thokkottu on Sunday.

Vedike has already started the work on providing water to the villagers since Tuesday. It has identified 100 points in the villages where cisterns of 5,000-litre capacity will be set up. They will be filled using water tankers, hired by the Vedike, as per a pre-drawn schedule with a provision for emergency refilling as well.

Rahim Uchil, spokesperson of the Vedike, had recently told reporters that the gesture of providing potable water to the villagers is the result of forethought of Abdul Razzaq Harekala, chairman of Hydrose Haji Charitable Trust (Bangalore).

"The water scarcity in the villages during summer has to be felt to be believed," Rahim said, adding that gram panchayats are not financially empowered to deal with such crisis.

Former Zila Parishat member Abdul Aziz Malar said the typical geographical make of the parched villages is laterite soil, which makes percolation of water difficult. "Rampant sinking of borewells has affected the underground water table in the region," he said, adding that the only solution is to go in for a multi-village drinking water scheme with budgetary support from the state government. "Water can be sourced from Thumbay," he said.

Another ex-ZP member Vinay Naik said Vedike's office will also serve as a focal point to help the villagers with any assistance they might require in obtaining benefits of various government schemes."Besides water, roads, drainage and other civic amenities too feature on the agenda of Vedike," Vinay said, adding that it will also enlist support of Mangalore MLA UT Khader for its initiatives.

DHNS

Good work without any doubt.

Earlier somebody had written how the local government violated its own advertisement policy (may be still a draft) of not allowing banners causing inconvenience to public by erecting banners in wrong places during Youth Festival. Now, let me add this charity organization also to the same list. The utter non-sense was for Anna Hazare movement, they also banners were put at places to create enough inconvenience to public. Shouldn't they find a better way of communication in this era of technology? Anna Hazare movement fizzled out as the many people who participated had more interested in show off rather than focus on actual needs of people.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

A veterinary college in Puttur; Rani Abbakka Bhavan at Ullal

A grant of Rs. 146 crore to Mangalore City Corporation for round-the-clock water supply announced by Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda in the 2012-13 Budget has brought the proposal to the fore again.

The corporation had kept the proposal aside after the council of the civic body failed to take a decision on going ahead with it. The council had twice postponed an agenda to this effect without any debate. In his budget speech, Mr. Gowda said that bulk water supply for Mangalore city had been augmented under a project assisted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Water distribution network in the city continued to be inadequate. The current intermittent water supply system would be converted into 24x7 system through public-private-partnership (PPP) mode at a cost of Rs. 146 crore. The work was expected to begin in 2012-13.

A veterinary college for Puttur, a hotel management institute for the city, an oceanarium, and a Janapada Loka for Pilikula are some of the proposals announced by Mr. Gowda for Dakshina Kannada in the budget. In addition, he announced setting up of a Jain Vidya Peetha in Mangalore University and constructing Rani Abbakka Bhawan in Ullal.

Mr. Gowda announced a proposal to bring arecanut under e-tendering system in the APMCs for selling the produce.

VETERINARY COLLEGE

The veterinary college proposed to be built in Puttur was first of its kind in the undivided Dakshina Kannada. Though Dakshina Kannada and Uudpi have hotel management institutes set up by the private sector, the one announced by the Chief Minister was the first in the government sector. The Chief Minister announced that a Janapada Loka will be constructed at a cost of Rs. 5 crore at Pilikula Nisargadhama. In addition, an Oceanarium of international standard would be constructed at Pilikula under PPP mode.

He announced Rs. 1 crore for setting up Jain Vidya Peetha at the university and Rs. 2 crore for building Rani Abbakka Bhavan at Ullal. He said that he would request the Centre and GIZ-IS, a German government agency, to provide financial assistance for setting up a high tech multi-skill development centre in Mangalore.

The Hindu

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Sandhya C D’Souza, Mangalore, Mar 22, 2012, DHNS :

Cases of manual scavenging will be treated under Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989.

With an aim to eradicate manual scavenging completely from the State, the Karnataka Government has issued strict orders that only machines should be used to clean soak pits, septic tanks and manual labour should not be employed for the work.

According to a circular issued to Zilla Panchayats in State by Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Principal Secretary Amitha Prasad, every taluk in the State has been directed to buy four sucking machines of 1000 litre capacity or two sucking machines of 3,000 litre capacity.

However, no special funds have been allotted to buy these machines. The sucking machines have to be purchased from the 13th Finance Commission (Untied grants to Gram Panchayat, Taluk Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat) and self generated revenue of the GP, TP and ZP.

A district-level committee has been formed with regard to the purchase of these machines.

The committee will be headed by Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer. District Accounts Officer, Social Welfare Officer, Health and Family Welfare Officer, Executive Officer of the Taluk will be the members and Zilla Panchayat Deputy Secretary will be the convener.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Chief Planning Officer Mohammed Nazeer said that the machines have to be purchased by end of June. “In case of cleaning soak pits before the purchase of the machines, RDPR department has directed to rent the machines available in the municipality and Corporation to do the work. The purchase of the machines could also be done through an e-tender,” he says.

He also adds that the 3,000 litre trailer mounted sucking machine costs Rs 6.75 lakh. However, there is a need to buy a 40 HP tractor for easy transportation of the machine. Hence the total cost of the machine and tractor would be Rs 12 lakh each, he says.

Compensation

According to The employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Central Act 1993 and Karnataka Act in 1997, carrying excreta on head has been banned and the people who are in this profession and are affected are being offered compensation.

A circular by Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Principal Secretary Amitha Prasad points out that cases of manual scavenging are still seen in some parts of the state, violating the law.

In such a case, if a person dies while involved in manual scavenging and if he is a Gram Panchayat worker, then his family has to be given a compensation of Rs 1 lakh within 48 hours of his death.

In case a labourer has been hired by a contractor for this work, then the contractor should take the responsibility and offer the compensation amount.
The agency should ensure that the family has received the compensation amount in the stipulated time.

A case under Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, will be filed against the person who appoints people for manual scavenging.

According to a reliable source, this immediate move against manual scavenging is taken by the government in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed against the government on the issue.

DHNS

[Krishnamoorthy K]

MANGALORE: The Rs 138-crore proposal for a 24x7 uninterrupted water supply system mooted by the city corporation seems to be the only solace for judicious use of existing water resource in a city where pipelines are leaking like a sieve.

The proposal aims at supplying water round the clock, plus plugging the leak using sensors. The system will monitor the amount of water pumped from the Thumbay pumping station to the end user thereby eliminating wastage, after rehabilitating the pipelines.

When the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) commenced water pipeline work under the Asian Development Bank funded Karnataka Urban Development and Coastal Environment Management Project in the city in 2004, water leakage was estimated at 38%.

The project never went as planned as the fund component for water supply was reduced from Rs 135 crore to Rs 98 crore which excluded the rehabilitation of old pipelines in the city.

As old pipelines cannot withstand the force from the new pipeline, they started leaking. Most of the water is lost on the way to the city itself, thanks to the Port Connectivity Project of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

Old water pipelines are buried under the road from Thumbay due to want of land and there are leaks all along.

"With the corporation not shifting water lines, we did not have any other option to complete the project,'' said an NHAI engineer. However, the corporation claimed that NHAI did not give land to lay the new pipeline.

In the city itself, there are major leaks at three places, two places at Bikkarnakatte and one at Nanthoor. City roads were concretized under the Rs 100 crore project, without shifting utilities, resulting in all the concrete roads being cut everyday after detecting leaks. Another Rs 100 crore may be needed to address this problem in the long run.

On Monday, thousands of gallons of water went waste as 18 MGD (million gallons per day) pipeline burst at Bendorewell flooding shops. The reason cited was weak pipeline. The cast iron pipeline was put in 1972 and has an estimated life of 50 years.

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

MANGALORE: Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) will regulate water consumption following depletion in the Thumbay dam, which meets the needs of the city as well as Ullal, Mulky and few villages in Bantwal taluk.

The water level on Monday was 8.8ft against a maximum of 13ft. It's the lowest recorded on March 26 since the dam was commissioned in 1993. The level has been below 10 feet only thrice - in 2003 (9.9ft), 2004 (8.11ft) and in 2005 (9.9ft). In 2011, the water level on March 26 was 12ft.

The dam was overflowing on the same day in 2006 and 2009. Lack of inflow, excessive consumption and evaporation are said to be the main reasons for the decrease in the level. Officials said the water level reduces by an average of 4 inches every day.

Mayor Gulzaar Banu, who visited the dam on Monday, said upstream dams of the AMR power project and MRPL check the inflow of water into the Thumbay dam. Former mayor M Shashidhar Hegde said that deputy commissioner NS Channappa Gowda should intervene and make arrangements for water supply. "Water supply to all industrial units should be stopped immediately," he added.

MCC commissioner Harish Kumar said people should use water very judiciously. "Alternative arrangements will be made, if required, to supply water to all residents from 200 borewells using tankers," he added.

About 2 million gallons per day were pumped from the dam to Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers (MCF) for industrial use. However, the supply has been cut down to 5 kilolitres per day only for drinking purpose, he said. He added that water supply hours will be reduced

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Mangalore, March 26 2012, DHNS:

* Mangalore likely to be in trouble

Mangalore city, which depends on river Netravati and Thumbe vented dam for its water needs, is now likely to head towards shortage of water, if the catchment areas of river Netravati fails to receive rainfall in the next few days.

Speaking to presspersons during her visit to the dam on Monday, Mayor Gulzar Baanu said that the situation might not be comfortable this year. The water storage level at Thumbe dam is decreasing alarmingly. With the inflow of water reaching the zero level, the water storage on Monday stood at 8.9 feet against full storage capacity of 13 feet, thus forcing Mangalore City Corporation to take preventive measures to avoid any acute shortage scenario.

In fact, the Thumbe dam was full and was overflowing when the previous Mayor Praveen and Deputy Mayor Geetha Nayak offered Ganga Pooja on February 21. The storage of water stood at 12.8 feet on March 1. However, the water started decreasing due to evaporation as well.

She requested people to cooperate with the City Corporation in steps that it might be forced to take in the days to come.

She said “do not waste water and minimise the use of water till the situation becomes normal.” The Corporation is doing all it can to supply water, she added.

Mangalore had witnessed water crisis in 2003 when the water level at Thumbe had dipped to 3.3 feet.

No water to MCF

Mangalore City Corporation Commissioner Dr Harish said water can be supplied for 45 days even with zero inflow to the dam. “With the rationalisation of water, the MCC will see that there was no acute shortage of water.”

“The MCC will reduce the supply of water to the industries. Accordingly, the supply of water to MCF has already been suspended. The MCF is given 5,000 litre water daily for drinking water purpose. The MCF was getting 2 MGD water daily when the dam had enough water.

In wake of decline in water level, supply of water to Ullal and Mulki has also been reduced. Ullal was receiving 2.5 MLD water earlier but now it has been reduced to 1 MLD on alternative days. Similarly, Mulki will now receive 0.5 MLD as against 1 MLD on alternative days.

“If the catchment area gets rainfall, then the entire scenario will change. Nevertheless, in case water shortage continues, we will still be prepared,” he added.

The Corporation supplies water to Gram Panchayats which is situated between Thumbe and Padil. “We have stopped the supply of water. In fact, we have written to the Zilla Panchayat to take over the maintenance of water supply to Adyar, Pudu and Thumbe Gram Panchayats.

The supply of water to these villages is incurring additional burden of Rs one crore to the City Corporation. These villages were getting 2 MGD water daily from Thumbe.”

Commissioner said adding that if the situation warranted, then the Deputy Commissioner might ask all upstream weirs including MRPL’s at Sarapady, AMR to release surplus stored water to avert drinking water crisis in the City. In case of adverse situation, we will make use of 200 borewells in the City corporation limits. Measures will also be taken to supply water through tankers.”

About 145 to 150 MLD water is pumped daily from Thumbe.

‘Use water judiciously’

Deputy Commissioner Dr N S Channappa Gowda has called upon Mangalore citizens to go for judicious use of water. The farmers have been asked not to lift water from rivers for irrigation purpose, informed a press release.

Water level at Thumbe from 1993 till date

1993—12.8 feet
1994—12.6 feet
1995—12.8 feet
1996—12.4 feet
1997—13 feet
1998—12.7 feet
1999—12.9 feet
2000—12.1 feet
2001—11.3 feet
2002—11.5 feet
2003—9.9 feet
2004—8.11 feet
2005—9.9 feet
2006—13 feet
2007—12.2 feet
2008—12.3 feet
2009—13 feet
2010—11.8 feet
2011—12 feet
2012—8.9 feet

DHNS

[Krishnamoorthy K]

* Mismanagement, unscientific distribution of water are the reasons, say sources

With the depletion of water storage to a scary level in the Thumbe vented dam — the only source of drinking water to the city, — the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) has resorted to what it calls “rationing” of water. The corporation is now supplying water on alternate days in all areas in the city.

According to some accounts, mismanagement, lack of vision, and alleged unscientific distribution of water have caused the present crisis. As against the full reservoir level of 13 ft, the water-level was 12.2 ft as on March 14. How did it come down suddenly to 8.9 ft within the next 12 days is the question raised by all. The previous lowest level recorded since 1993 was 8.11 ft in 2004.

The crisis appears greater when taken into account the fact that water cannot be lifted once the level falls to 3 ft (dead storage level). Besides, it is common knowledge that as the water level goes down, the quantity available for use also keeps reducing.

REASON

One reason for the crisis, being offered by a source in the corporation is mismanagement. In its excitement to show that it could supply potable water round the clock, it drew more water than required without thinking about the depleting quantity of water in the Thumbe dam.

The source claimed that the corporation doubled the pumping capacity at Thumbe dam more than a year ago by adding two pumps to the existing two. It went up to 160 MLD (million litres per day) from 80 MLD. The corporation has put all the four pumps to maximum use since then.

In summer 2011 too, the source said it pumped 150 MLD. What saved the city from a crisis then was high inflow caused by unseasonable rains in the catchment areas. On March 26, last year the water level was 12 ft.

This explanation is not accepted by all. RTI activist Sundar Rao does not think that the corporation had doubled the quantity of water lifted without completing the second vented dam to hold more water. He points out that nothing major has happened upstream that could have altered the situation dramatically this year. “I do not know what caused the crisis,” he said.

Though one would like to know when the inflow came to zero level, the equipment to measure the inflow is simply not there at the dam.

However, when the new dam is ready, the corporation hopes to store water that will take care of water needs of Mangalore for 90 days after the inflow has stopped.

K.N. Vijay Prakash, Chief Executive Officer of the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, who wrote to the then Mayor Praveen while demitting office as MCC Commissioner, had said that although the civic body did not know the exact quantity of “non-revenue water” supplied to the city, around 50 per cent of treated water supplied was not being “utilised properly”.

The letter said that at present, water supply in the city was not managed scientifically for lack of trained technical staff and ineffective supervision .

Hanumanth G. Kamath of Nagarika Hitarakshana Vedike blames the crisis on the failure to close public taps and “irresponsible” behaviour of ruling and opposition parties who danced to the tunes of officials and to “40 per cent leakage” of water due to connecting old and new pipes.

The Hindu

[Krishnamoorthy K]

RAVIPRASAD KAMILA

Elected representatives from Mangalore region have hardly made an effort to bring water to the city from Lakhya Dam which is not in use in Kudremukh, said some officials in the Mangalore City Corporation.

Lakhya Dam, built by the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd. (KIOCL), could stand as the major alternative source of drinking water to the city after Netravathi, they said.

It was not proper on part of the civic body to entirely depend on Netravathi when consumption of water was increasing in city because of development, they said. An official said that since the dam was on a higher plane than Mangalore, water can be supplied to the city through gravitation pull. The corporation need not depend on the existing supply line laid out by the company from Kudremukh to Panambur for the supply. It could lay a new pipeline via Karkala, Moodbidri to reach Vamanjoor. The former Mayor M. Shankar Bhat, during whose tenure a move to approach the Supreme Court was initiated, told The Hindu that the city corporation had impleaded in a petition before the court with regard to drawing water from Lakhya dam.

The Hindu

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Mangalore City Corporation will make use of all the 200 borewells in its jurisdiction for supplying water to the city in view of the scarcity, said Commissioner of the corporation Harish Kumar K.

The Commissioner, who accompanied Mayor Gulzaar Banu to the Thumbe vented dam on Monday, told presspersons that as the corporation was depending on the Netravathi, it would not use water from all borewells as of now. He said that the storage at the dam was enough for 45 days; if water from the dam was pumped round the clock with zero inflow in the river.

The Mayor said the scarcity was mainly because of the nature's fury and partly “man-made”. However, she did not explain what “man-made” meant.

Ms. Banu said the issue would be taken up with the Deputy Commissioner who had the powers to ask the authorities of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (MRPL) and AMR Power Project at Shambhoor to release water from their vented dams to Thumbe dam.

The former Mayor M. Shankar Bhat speaking to The Hindu attributed the scarcity to consumption going up, leakage in networks, and illegal water supply connections.

He said it was time the city corporation and the district administration disconnected illegal connections not only within the city but along the pipeline from Thumbe to Padil, he said. On his part, the Commissioner said the two MGD (million gallons per day) pipeline from Thumbe which supplied water to gram panchayats between Thumbe and Padil was maintained by the corporation. The civic body spent Rs. 1 crore annually for its maintenance. The corporation has written to the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat to take over the pipeline and maintain it.

The Hindu

[Krishnamoorthy K]

ANISHA SHETH

Water supply to Mangalore city is almost entirely sourced from the vented dam in Thumbe, apart from borewells and wells used by people. However, the present “water crisis” is a wake up call to ensure that the administration establishes systems to protect and replenish ground water.

Commissioner of the Mangalore City Corporation Harish Kumar said that five tanks were being developed in two MLA constituencies under the State-wide scheme to repair tanks. Through the scheme, Rs. 5 crore had been sanctioned for each constituency. Assistant Executive Engineer K.S. Lingegowda said that the five tanks that were in the process of being rejuvenated were Gujjarkere and Emmekere near Jeppu, Bairadykere in Padil, and Palemarkere and Karmbistan in Jeppinamogaru.

In the revised Comprehensive Development Plan for Mangalore city, Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) has been made mandatory for new certain kinds of buildings.

Mangalore Urban Development Authority Chairperson S. Ramesh said that since 2009, installation of rain water harvesting systems had been made mandatory for all commercial buildings and residential apartments. However, it was the city corporation which had to enforce it, he said.

An official in the Town Planning section said that there was a view that rain water harvesting was not necessary in this region because the water table was generally high in this region.

The Hindu

[engineer.akash]

[Krishnamoorthy K]

The 2012-13 budget of Mangalore City Corporation presented by Mayor Gulzaar Banu at the council on Friday, in the absence of BJP councillors, promises constructing bus shelters at identified places here in cooperation with donors on BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis.

The budget has reserved Rs. 3 crore for new vented dam which was under construction at Thumbe for supplying drinking water to the city and its outskirts.

It has proposed to issue free birth certificates to the first child of couples from the below poverty line families. These the couples will also be issued with a baby kit.

The budget like last year again promises “making efforts” to construct a multi-level car parking facility at Hampankatta for parking 600 cars.

The Mayor presented a Rs. 12.07-lakh surplus budget. The budget document estimated the total receipts at Rs. 228.39 crore and expenditure at Rs. 228.27 crore.
BJP walks out

Ms. Banu presented the budget after the BJP councillors walked out of the meeting after opposing it.

Earlier, the Mayor asked Shantha R., a BJP councillor and a member of the Standing Committee for Taxation, Finance and Appeals to present the budget. But she declined stating that it should be referred back to the committee for revision.

The BJP councillors are in a majority in the Council which has 60 elected councillors. Of the 40 BJP councillors, 35 were elected and five were nominated.

The BJP councillors submitted a letter to the Mayor objecting to her presiding over the meeting as a matter of her election was before courts.

It said that the Mayor did not enjoy majority in the council. Hence she should not conduct the meeting.

The letter requested the Mayor to postpone the budget meeting.

In another letter which had 35 signatories, the BJP councillors requested the Mayor to refer the budget for a review by the Standing Committee for Taxation, Finance, and Appeals.

In the discussions over the budget, Harish, an independent councillor, said that on the expenditure front it had reserved only 22 per cent of the receipts that were for development works. Hence, it could not be called as development oriented. Of the total receipts, only 40.83 per cent revenue came from the corporation's sources and the rest from the Government. Hence, the corporation had to depend on the Government, he said.

S. Appi, a Congress member, said that instead of providing baby kits the civic body should deposit some amount in the name of the baby.

The meeting agreed to increase the grants to BPL families for repairing houses from Rs. 15,000 a family mentioned in the budget to Rs. 20,000 per family.

The Hindu

Rs. 3 crores is for what when the cost has gone up from Rs. 40 crores to Rs. 80 crores?

[Krishnamoorthy K]

The Coast Guard on Tuesday carried out an exercise to check the preparedness of various stakeholders in tackling a possible oil spill in the sea.

The exercise was conducted by involving the New Mangalore Port Trust, the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Mangalore Special Economic Zone Ltd., and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.

The exercise was conducted as per the District Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan devised by the Karnataka unit of the Indian Coast Guard. The Coast Guard deployed its specialised pollution response vessel “Samudra Prahari”, which had been sent from its Regional Headquarters, Western Region, in Mumbai. The NMPT made use of its two tugs “Suvarna” and “Subadra” for the exercise. According to Rajmani Sharma, Commander, Coast Guard, Karnataka, the Coast Guard would coordinate with all the stakeholders to quickly respond to the oil spill and prevent it from reaching the shore. This was the first time that such an exercise was being carried out on the Karnataka Coast, Mr. Sharma said.

A team of presspersons were taken on the “Samudra Prahari” to view the exercise. The mock drill started with a Coast Guard surveillance boat noticing an oil spill around 10 nautical miles from the New Mangalore Port. The “Samudra Prahari” vessel and the NMPT tugs moved towards the location of the oil spill. The exercise went on for nearly three hours.

Commandant Jagat Bir Singh Virk, who heads the Pollution Control Response Team for the West Coast, said the strategy of tackling oil spill would be worked out after analysing various factors, including the type of oil, extent of the oil spill, and the direction of the wind. The 95-metre-long Samudra Prahari vessel, he said, provided different modes of controlling the oil spill.

One of the modes include spraying of oil spill dispersant (OSD) from an equipment fitted on either side of the vessel. The OSD would disintegrate oil on the water surface and facilitate natural oil dissipation, Mr. Virk said. As much as 50 tonnes of OSD could be stocked in the vessel.

This vessel was recently involved in preventing the oil spill from m.v. Rak carrier along the Mumbai Coast which saved 24 persons in August 2011, Mr. Virk said.

Rajender S. Sapal, Karnataka District Operation Officer of Coast Guards, said that such an exercise would be conducted on a regular basis along the Karnataka Coast, which was a busiest shipping lane on the Arabian Sea.

The Hindu

[Krishnamoorthy K]

MANGALORE: With corporation authorities opening two bottom valves of MRPL weir, the water level at the Thumbe vented dam, the major source of drinking water to the city, is rising. On Friday, the water level at the low lift pumping station stood at 9.5 ft as against 8.7 ft recorded on Thursday recording an increase of 10 inches.

Meanwhile, corporation authorities have decided to change the timings of water supply from eight hours to 12 hours on alternative days after many upper reaches of the city experienced water shortage. Pumping station personnel said though water was being pumped for eight hours till Thursday, the water pressure dropped as many houses have sumps. "By the time pressure builds to take water supply to the higher areas after sumps are filled, the pumping stops,'' a source said.

Some areas are now being supplied water through tankers. Also, gate valves are being put at many places so that equal distribution of water is done. The gate valves are used typically in areas of high undulation to shut water to one area and supply to the other. Assistant executive engineer (water supply) K S Linge Gowda said water rationing plans were being drawn up every hour depending upon the water level at Thumbe, so that all residents get water. As of now only 86 MLD is being supplied to the whole city as against double the quantity in normal times.

On the other hand, MRPL authorities said their situation was also precarious as far as refinery operations were concerned. The plant has five days storage required for safety operations and mitigate emergency as tonnes of hydrocarbons and naptha are lying in the 120 storage tanks. MRPL needs 20 MLD to conduct bare minimum plant operations barring the township. "If MCC had addressed the leak at Thumbe dam, due to which 20 MLD is being lost per day (it is being reverse pumped now), situation could have been better,'' said MRPL official. He stressed that MRPL had repaired the dam four times.

The weir storage, if MRPL draws water at 20 MLD (now allowed to draw half the quantity by MCC) and lets out equal amount of water to Thumbe simultaneously, the storage may barely sufficient for a fortnight.

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Mangalore, March 29:

A Mangalore-based private hospital has initiated the process of creating value from waste. Aimed at creating energy from kitchen waste, the pilot project is likely to help save around Rs 25,000 a month in fuel consumption.

Rotary Club of Mangalore, in association with Fr Muller Charitable Institutions, has set up biogas plant in the hospital premises of the institutions to covert 300 kg of biodegradable solid waste into biogas everyday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of this project, Mr Prakash Kalbavi from Rotary Club, who co-ordinated the implementation of this project in Fr Muller Hospital premises, said the plant is established at a cost of Rs 5 lakh.

It has a capacity to convert 300 kg of kitchen waste into 14 kg of biogas (methane). This is used by the institute as an alternate source of energy for cooking in its canteen.

Biogas, which is tapped in a balloon with neoprene membrane, is compressed and connected to a burner in the kitchen.

At present, the canteen requires around four to five cylinders of LPG a day. The biogas plant will meet the requirements of around one-and-a-half cylinders, he said.

Asked about the calorific value of this gas, Mr Kalbavi said it is little less than the regular LPG. 'This means the cooking may take slightly longer time, but the cost saving is enormous,' he said.

Economic viability

To a query on the economic viability of the plant, he said the commercial rate for 14 kg of this gas is around Rs 1,035. On an average, this works out to around Rs 31,000 a month.

The plant consumes around Rs 60 worth electricity every day, and requires about 200 litres of water to flush the garbage into bio-digester. One person is required to sort the garbage and load, and his cost is taken as Rs 4,000 a month.

Still there will be a saving of around Rs 25,000. The entire investment on the plant can be recovered in 20 months, he added.

vinayakaj@thehindu.co.in

Business Line


Daijiworld

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Published: Friday, Mar 30, 2012, 12:26 IST | Updated: Friday, Mar 30, 2012, 12:27 IST
By M Raghuram | Place: Mangalore | Agency: DNA

The state has come a long way in controlling incidences of malaria and other vector-borne diseases, having met with success in districts such as Bellary,Udupi, Davanagere, Chitradurga, Bijapur and Raichur, but Bangalore Urban and Mangalore still appear to be problem areas.

In these two districts, mosquito breeding appears to be perennial and the people get bitten by a vector-carrying mosquitoes any time of the year.That is the reason why Bangalore has malaria cases anytime of the year and Mangalore is still the topper for a different set of reasons. In both cities, the spread of malaria is more a social problem than medical.

Mangalore has become an endemic region for malaria and other vector-bound infections due to two reasons. First, the availability of perennial freshwater sources provides scope for breeding. Second, the monsoons lead to formation of seasonal waterbodies, which are ideal for breeding.

In Bangalore, the city-based field station of National Institute Malaria Research (NIMR) has observed that care should be taken while storing water for household consumption.

'We have issued a directive to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to make an appeal to all the residents to install airtight lids on their water tanks. There are lakhs of overhead water tanks in Bangalore, which were not closed or covered with corrugated sheets, which provide space for mosquitoes to lay eggs. One of the recommendations of the national malaria control programme was to stop the breeding of mosquitoes. Once they lay eggs the rest of their life cycle was difficult to control,' SK Ghosh, scientist at the NIMR field station in Bangalore, told DNA.

The NIMR has also sent advisory to the BBMP to advise the ward committees to monitor the mosquito breeding spots and destroy them. It has also advised the BBMP to introduce guppy fishes into the water bodies such as open tanks, dug wells and large uncovered tanks.

However, the BBMP malaria control cell officials said it is not the overhead tanks that help breed mosquitoes, but blame it on storage of water in drums and vessels inside the homes, especially in areas that get irregular water
supply.

'According to our findings, the overhead tanks were not the culprits, water in these tanks develop a mid-day temperature of not less than 34 degrees centigrade, which destroys the mosquito eggs and early stages of pupa,' NM Lokesh nodal officer of malaria cell of the BBMP told DNA. But, he said, the drums and other large vessels used to stock water in slums and areas, that get water once in five or six days, the residents often stock water in vessels that are not closed securely and they help breed mosquitoes, he added.

As long as there are unregulated water storage habits or conditions that lead to it, breeding of mosquitoes cannot be stopped effectively.

Dr BS Kakkilaya, a malaria expert, says the malaria parasite has the great ability to escape human defences - the immune system, and can survive within the host for years without harming them. And this is one reason why a vaccine against malaria may not be effective, as say against polio, small pox etc - diseases that have no vectors and induce strong immune response, he added.

Mosquitoes are ubiquitous and more adaptable than human beings. They breed profusely in stagnant water and are difficult to control, once they develop wings and start flying. It was therefore better to control them from laying eggs, he pointed out.

DNA

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Tumbe Water: What you need to know

Pumping capacity ..................................... 160.00 MLD*
Water lifted ............................................. 150.00 MLD**

Bulk Consumers:
Ullal Town Muncipality ................................. 002.50 MLD**
Mulky Town Panchayat ................................ 001.00 MLD**
Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers ................... 009.00 MLD**
UPCL ......................................................... 001.00 MLD
Ruchi Soya ................................................. 000.25 MLD
NMPT ........................................................ 000.25 MLD
UB ............................................................ 000.50 MLD
Strides ...................................................... 000.25 MLD
Gram Panchayats between Padil & Tumber ........ 009.00 MLD
Total ......................................................... 023.75 MLD

Water consumbed by others ........................... 126.25 MLD
(including hotels &
other commercial establishments)



*MLD = Million Litres per Day
** reduced considerably owing to crisis

Source: Mangalore City Corporation -- The Hindu

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Sewage water from manholes surrounding the lake enters the water body

Despite Mangalore City Corporation developing the Gujjara Kere, an old lake at Jeppu at an estimated cost of Rs. 2.26 crore for the past two years, the lake does not have clean fresh water.

Aquatic weeds, mainly water hyacinth, have grown again. It was mainly because the sewage water from leaking manholes surrounding the lake enters the water body, said P. Nemu Kottari, secretary, Gujjara Kere Tirtha Samrakshana Vedike, an action committee formed by residents of Jeppu to fight for the lake's development. Untreated wastewater from some drains also flow into the lake, he said.

Mr. Kottari said that if there was clean water in the lake, it could be supplied to many wards in the south of the city during summer. Storing water in it helped recharge groundwater. The corporation began the works after the vedike pressed for it as the lake had not been developed for 50 years. If the flow of sewage water to the water body was checked regularly the lake would have clean water, he said.

K.R. Chandrashekar, Professor, Department of Applied Botany, Mangalore University, said the sewage water contained organic substances and heavy metal contents on which water hyacinth thrived. Water hyacinth had the special ability to absorb heavy metal contents.

The development works so far implemented included removal of weeds and constructing retaining walls on all the four sides of the tank and strengthening the bunds, said Naresh Shenoy, Assistant Executive Engineer (development cell), in the corporation. He said the corporation was yet to lay interlocks around the lake and weeds in it would be removed once again. Another Assistant Executive Engineer in the corporation who supported Mr. Kottari's view said the lake had the maximum capacity to store 66,500 cubic metres of water. In summer, the lake could store water up to two metres and during rainy season up to four metres.

He said that although treated water could not be supplied from the lake, storing water in it would help recharge groundwater in about 3-km radius of the lake.

G. Rajashekar, Executive Engineer (development cell) in the corporation, said the civic body had invited bids to reconstruct 15 manholes around the lake and replace the existing sewage pipeline networks at an estimated cost of Rs. 23 lakh.

The Hindu

When I asked a person working there he told that it will require two months. So, by the end of April 2012 it is expected to be completed. But, the current status as shown in picture may not indicate that.

[engineer.akash]

‘Water-level in Thumbe dam has gone up slightly'

The water-level in the Thumbe vented dam has increased slightly after MRPL opened the gate of its dam at Sarapdy, Mangalore City Corporation Commissioner Harish Kumar said amid much commotion during the corporation council meeting here on Saturday.

Replying to councillors' demand that they be updated about the position of water in the dam, Mr. Kumar said that during an inspection on March 27, the water level was 8.2 feet but had since increased to 9.1 feet. The corporation had reduced the quantity of water being supplied to people as a measure of rationing supply. He said that water was being released for 18 hours instead of 24 hours, Mr. Kumar said.

Councillor Shankar Bhat of the Bharatiya Janata Party said that he along with others made efforts to get the State government's approval to a proposal to source water to the city from Lakya dam, but the case was now in court.

Replying to this, Mr. Kumar said that in 2008, KIOLC told that it was ready to hand over the dam to the city corporation.

However, there were apprehensions that KIOCL would use a portion of water thus sourced for commercial purposes violating the Wildlife Protection Act. The MCC would take appropriate action in this regard, he said. Before the council began a discussion on the water crisis in the city, a heated debate broke out between members of the BJP and the Congress over presentation of the budget.

While the ruling BJP councillors challenged the legality of the Mayor presenting the budget, Congress councillors argued that there was no other recourse. Several councillors of the BJP sought clarity on Sections 168 and 169 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act 1976, which pertain to the presentation of the budget and the procedure of the corporation. Mr. Kumar said the rules stated that the president of the Standing Committee on Finance and Taxation must present the budget within a time-frame.

Former mayor Shashidhar Hegde, however, pointed out that the committee did not have a president, and therefore the Mayor had presented the budget. Mr. Kumar conceded that he had a point and added that the law was not drafted to confront or contingencies that may arise after it had been implemented.


Water-level in the dam has increased to 9.1 ft from 8.2 ft recorded on March 27

MCC meet witness a debate between BJP and Congress councillors over budget presentation