Ravindranath Shanbhag, president of the Human Rights Protection Foundation (HRPF), said on Wednesday that it was better to construct six to 10 vented dams across the Swarna to provide water to Udupi city during summer rather than get water through pipelines from the Varahi.
Speaking at a workshop on water problems in Udupi city, organised by the District Working Journalists’ Association, Dr. Shanbhag said the project to bring water from the Varahi to Baje dam during summer was not just costly but also not properly thought out.
Instead, the construction of six or 10 vented dams against the Swarna would be cheaper.
More importantly, it would increase groundwater in the area, he said.
Dr. Shanbhag said that municipal council should give more importance to constructing underground drainage throughout the city.
In places such as Manipal, which had porous laterite, there was no proper underground drainage system.
The drain water was seeping and contaminating wells not just in Manipal but also parts of Udupi.
“If proper underground drainage system is provided, the contamination of wells could be avoided. It could also help avoid diseases such as dengue. Rather than spending money on concreting the Udupi-Manipal road, the government should spend it on underground drainage system as this would help resolve the drinking water problem also,” he said. To a query, Dr. Shanbhag said that the sewage treatment plants in the city were over-stretched. It was the people living in places such as Kalmady who had bear the brunt of drainage water seeping into the steam and polluting it.
The municipal council should conduct water auditing. This would give a clear idea of how the water was being used by the citizens.
He did not favour supplying water through tankers in the city.
This was because the quality of water supplied through the tankers was a suspect and needed to be tested properly. He was in favour of desilting in the Baje dam area as it would help increase the quantity of water being stored in the reservoir, Dr. Shanbhag said.