With the inflow of water having stopped in the Swarna two days ago, the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) is drawing up plans to ensure equitable supply of water for the summer.
The CMC may opt for regulating water supply from the next month.
Drinking water to Udupi city and its surrounding areas is supplied from two dams across the Swarna — one at Bajpe about 18 km from here, called the Swarna Stage I, and the second at Shiroor, about 22 km from here, called the Swarna Stage II. Last year, the inflow in the Swarna had stopped on January 2. The water level at the Baje Dam stood at 5.94 m on Monday, while the water at the dam stood at 5.9 m on January 22 last year.
“Last year, we had opened the bund at the Shiroor Dam to let water to flow into the Baje Dam. But this year, we have still not opened it,” said K. Ganesh, CMC Assistant Executive Engineer.
Though there is 90 centimetres more water compared to last year, it is not much. Though, there are nearly 18,000 water tap connections in the city, 300 more tap connections have been added since the last year.
The CMC supplies 27.5 million litres of water per day to the city. But last year (last summer), the CMC had faced a tough situation in supplying water, especially in April and May. Hence, this year, plans are being drawn up to utilise the water available in the Swarna till June 15.
As per the plans, all 35 municipal wards in the city would be divided into three zones instead of two, as was being done earlier, to ensure equitable water supply.
