City dwellers in Hubballi who have been troubled by irregular supply of drinking water will shortly have some relief as Large and Medium Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar has assured of taking steps to supply drinking water once in five days.
Speaking to presspersons after offering “Bagina” at the Nirasagar Lake here on Monday, Mr. Shettar said that steps have been taken in this direction and drinking water would be supplied once in five days to all wards of the city from next week. All possible steps would be taken to resolve water-related issues in the city as well as in the district, he said.
As Nirasagar and other tanks are full due to heavy rain in the district, there may not be problems in supplying drinking water regularly now. The government would take all necessary steps to meet the growing requirement for drinking water in the city.
As on date, the city’s water requirement stands at 200 MLD per day and this requirement is met by lifting 160 MLD water from the Malaprabha reservoir and receiving the remaining 40 MLD from the Nirasagar lake. This apart, the scheme to lift an additional 40 MLD of water from the Malaprabha reservoir under the bulk water lifting scheme was under progress and it is expected to be completed by December. Once this project is completed, drinking water would be supplied once in three days to all wards in the city, he added.
Mr. Shettar said that in the beginning, the drinking water was being supplied to the city from Unkal Lake. However, as population grew, schemes to receive water from Nirasagar Lake and Malaprabha reservoir were implemented. It has been estimated that the total population of Hubballi-Dharwad, Kundgol town and 31 villages located along the water pipeline route would increase to 13.5 lakh by 2025. By that time, daily water requirement would increase to 234 MLD.
Besides, it has been estimated that population would further increase to 17.10 lakh demanding 302 MLD water per day and by 2055, the total estimated population would reach 21.60 lakh taking the per day water requirement to 382 MLD. Steps were being taken to meet this future water requirement, he said.
About future plans, Mr. Shettat said that a ₹ 334-crore project has been finalised to meet the future water requirement and also to take up additional works, including the construction of the new headwork at the Malaprabha reservoir, overhead pipeline from Savadatti to Amminabhavi, 100 MLD-capacity water purification unit, water storage facility at Rayapur, one more overhead pipeline from Madarmaddi area of Dharwad to Sainagar locality of Hubballi, master balancing water storage facility and other such works. This apart, the government would pay attention to sort out water woes in rural areas. A proposal for a ₹ 1,100-crore project to supply pure drinking water to all 380 villages of the district would be submitted to the government shortly, he said.
Mr. Shettar observed that there are potentials to develop the Nirasagar Lake areas into a tourist destination. Nearly 300 acres of vacant land is available in the front portion of the lake and this land could be used to develop a garden and other tourist facilities on the lines of the Brindavan Garden at Krishnarajsagar dam and Alamatti dam. A proposal in this connection would be finalised shortly, Mr. Shettar said.
Earlier, Mr. Shettar offered “Bagina” at lake, which is brimming with water to its full capacity after four years.
Kalghatgi MLA C.M. Nimbannavar, Hubballi-Dharwad East MLA Abbayya Prasad, Dharwad MLA Amrut Desai, Deputy Commissioner M. Deepa, HDMC Commissioner Suresh Itnal, Assistant Commissioner Mohammad Zuber, Water Board Chief Engineer D. Raju, Karnataka Urban Water Supply Board Executive Engineer S.S. Rajagopal and others were present.