Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Monday instructed Dakshina Kannada district administration to submit a proposal on funds required for acquiring land to store water up to seven metres high in Thumbe vented dam supplying drinking water to the city.

He chaired a meeting to discuss drinking water issues in Dakshina Kannada at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.

Minister for Urban Development and in-charge of Dakshina Kannada U.T. Khader told the Chief Minister that 344 acres of land will be submerged if water is stored up to seven metres. It required ₹ 130 crore for land acquisition. The Minister said that demand for water in Mangaluru is increasing every year.

The Chief Minister also instructed Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil S. to submit a report on the pros and cons of a desalination plant being set up at Panambur by MRPL.

The Chief Minister gave instructions for the construction of two vented dams, one across the Neriya Hole and the other across the Netravathi, near Dharmasthala, to mitigate drinking water scarcity in temple-town of Dharmasthala. It will cost about Rs. 7 crore. They will be built on a request to the government by D. Veerendra Heggade, Pattadhikari, Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala, as the temple and the town faced acute water scarcity this year.

He told the administration to build houses on the Kodagu model to rehabilitate 150 families affected by sea erosion in Ullal.

Mr. Khader said that a permanent solution is required to tackle sea erosion in Ullal. Hundreds of boulders being dumped on the sea shore to prevent erosion by spending crores of rupees are being washed away, he said.

Minister for Minor Irrigation C.S. Puttaraju, Additional Chief Secretary E.V. Ramana Reddy, Secretary, Urban Development, Anjum Parvez, and Managing Director, Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board, Jayaram, attended the meeting.