Mangaluru : Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake on Monday instructed the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB) to conduct a study on how much land will be submerged if water at the new vented dam at Thumbe is stored at different levels between four metres height and seven metres height.

At a review meeting, the officials told the Minister that water was being stored to a maximum of four metres height at the existing dam. In the new dam, which is being built downstream the existing dam, water could be stored up to a maximum height of seven metres.

But, according to an estimate 386 acre would be submerged if water was stored up to that level.

The Minister said that the board should conduct a study on the extent of area to be submerged if water was stored at different levels. After assessing this, the corporation could take a decision on storing water.

An official of the board said that it would require three more months to complete the new dam. Of Rs. 68- crore project, works to the tune of Rs. 54 crore had been completed now.

When Leader of the Opposition in the Mangaluru City Corporation council Sudhir Shetty Kannur raised the issue of illegal tapping of water from the main water supply lines between Thumbe and Padil, the Minister told him to discuss the issue at the council meeting and find a solution.

An engineer of the corporation said that there were about 40 illegal water supply connections to the main lines. Even if the corporation disconnected them village residents re-connected them later. As the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchyat was yet to build a water treatment plant for supplying water to the villages in between Thumbe and Padil, the issue still remained. Once the treatment plant is ready a two million gallons a day capacity supply line between Thumbe and Padil could be completely used for supplying water to the villages.

The other two 18 mgd capacity pipelines would continue to supply water to the city from Thumbe. The official said that the ball was now in the court of the zilla panchayat which was looking for a Rs. 2 crore grant for building the treatment plant.