Mangaluru : The Mangaluru City Corporation will be forced to supply drinking water once in three days as water level at Thumbe vented dam has depleted further causing concern.

The level has gone down to 6.3 ft. against the maximum level of 13 ft.

Mayor Harinath told that once the level depleted to 6 ft. the corporation would resort to supply water once in three days.

“It is inevitable for us to do so till the dam gets some inflow. We hope it might rain after May 4,” Mr. Harinath said.

Mr. Harinath said now only the Nature should come to the rescue of the corporation.

The Mayor said water from a hydel power project dam across the Kumaradhara, a tributary of the Netravathi, near Kadaba in Puttur taluk has not been released yet. If its release results in overflow of a check dam across Kumaradhara at Uppinangady, Thumbe dam might get some water.

A water supply engineer said now only two ft. of water is available to pump about 36 MGD (million gallons a day) of water using two pumps. The two pumps could be operated simultaneously only till the level depleted to four ft. Later, one pump would be operated till the level went down to 3.5 ft and not beyond that. It was to technical reasons and silt factors in the base.

Lancelot Pinto, chairman, Standing Committee for Town Planning and Improvement, said 22 water tankers have been pressed into service for supplying water to such areas which are not getting water.

Usually such areas are in the upper reaches.

Of them 13 tankers were supplying water from Bendoor pumhouse, six tankers from Kuloor and Kulai pump houses and three tankers from the pump house near Mangala stadium.The water carrying capacity of tankers varied from 2,000 litres to 20,000 litres.