The Hindu 18.11.2009
Water supply to get a boost
Staff Correspondent
| New scheme designed to meet needs of 6.8 lakh people |
Population of Mangalore expected to reach 6.8 lakh by 2026
13 overhead tanks and five ground-level reservoirs in place
— Photo: R. Eswarraj 
SOURCE: Additional pipeline has been laid from the Thumbe vented dam to meet the water needs of Mangalore.
MANGALORE: The Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), which is building the new water supply infrastructure here, is making all efforts to complete the task by December-end, according to Syed Illias Pasha, Superintending Engineer of the corporation.
The new scheme has been designed to meet the water demand in the jurisdiction of Mangalore City Corporation by 2026 for an estimated population of 6.8 lakh. According to the 2001 Census, the population of Mangalore is 4.22 lakh.
The proposal is aimed at providing continuous and equitable distribution of water at 135 litres a day for each person (litres per capita per day — lpcd) with sufficient pressure from the present 90 lpcd. At present, distribution is uneven and the pressure inadequate in some areas while in most places the water is supplied once in two days.
Mr. Pasha said that the KUIDFC had already laid a new main pipeline from the Thumbe dam to the city with a capacity to supply 80 million litres a day (mld). The capacity of the existing main line was also the same. With this, the total capacity had increased to 160 mld. Of this, 11 mld would be supplied to Ullal, two mld to Mulky and seven mld to villages located between Thumbe and Mangalore.
The KUIDFC had now built 13 overhead tanks in the city. Of them, three had the capacity to store 15 lakh litres, eight tanks could store 10 lakh litres, and two could store five lakh litres. The tanks were at Ladyhill, Chilimbi, Bala, Padavinangady, Panambur, Kadri, Thiruvail, Surathkal (two), Katipalla, Kudupu, Padupadavu and Sisters Colony. In addition, it had built five ground-level reservoirs at Padil (120 lakh litres), Bondel (15 lakh litres), Soojikal (10 lakh litres), Ullasnagar (10 lakh litres), and Ladyhill (five lakh litres). It had constructed four pump-houses at Ladyhill, Maryhill, Padil and Panambur. The total length of pipelines laid was 804 km. For equitable distribution of water, 35 water supply zones had been created in the city. In 13 zones, the pipelines were yet to be linked. After completing the commissioning in 35 zones, 23 booster pump houses in the MCC jurisdiction could be avoided and water supply from 150 bore wells could be discontinued, he said.
