[BolliBatlu]

Can Karnataka government come up with a special scheme exclusively for relocating five or ten lakh people from the parched districts to water abundant coastal areas by generating two to four lakhs of jobs? Special concession should be given to industries generating jobs under this scheme. Let me say again that only people of the parched districts can get employment under this scheme. Yettinahole money can be used for providing concession to industries.

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Thumbay new dam ready: Mangaluru to have enough water for summer
Corporation starts impounding water at new vented dam at Thumbe

Mini check dams only solution to solve water woes
Lobo: Desilt lakes to rejuvenate water bodies

NSS volunteers with Alva’s to build weirs across small streams

Moodbidri witnessing a lake revolution
Since lakes are in deep water, math steps in

Like Ramakrishna Mission working on 'Swachch Bharath' we may require missionary zeal to revive lakes in rest of undivided DK.

Mangaluru: Sea-based coastal reservoir can overcome water shortage - Prof T G Sitharam
IISc expert moots sea-based reservoir for Mangaluru’s water woes
Dam inside sea: Water for the state
IISc professor moots plan to save floodwater
Coastal reservoir favoured in city

Though Sitharam highlighted the positive aspects, at a meeting in the city on Tuesday, he had an encounter with his fellow IISc-mate Prof SG Mayya, a critical opponent of Yettinahole project, who said not only the innovative solution is prohibitively expensive, it did not take the aspects of siltation (like in ground level reservoirs) and replenishment of ground level water in a lateritic region where both horizontal and vertical run off was very high.

So, spinning ideas out in a hurry without studying all aspects of project properly.

In earlier Udayavani news, it was 95 tmcft with a cost of Rs. 2,200 crores but now it is 15 tmcft with a cost between Rs 3,000 crores and Rs 3,500 crores. Why within five months cost escalated that much?

Mangaluru is not running out of drinking water as is being said. In fact water is running out of Mangaluru,

That is the reason we require Pashchima Vahini. And we get waterways along with water as a bonus.

However, in case the wall is built inside the ocean the entire length and width of the sea wall will encourage deep sea fishing and would benefit the fishing community enormously.

We don't need deep sea fishing which destroy marine flora and fauna instead we require marine pharmacognosy and Marine Biotech Parks.

Speaking on “Building flood water coastal reservoir in the Arabian Sea” here on Tuesday, the professor said that more than 120 tmcft of flood water ran off to the sea every year from the Netravathi. Of that, 10 tmcft or 15 tmcft of water could be stored by building coastal reservoir and the rest could be let off into the sea as flood water is compulsorily required for nourishing marine life. It could be built through public-private-partnership and it might cost between Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 3,500 crore.

Does the rest mean remaining of (Pashchima Vahini + coastal reservoir) or just coastal reservoir?

He said that Mangaluru required about one tmcft of water annually for a five lakh population. According to him, building a small coastal reservoir just to store one tmcft of water was not viable as it involved pumping of water out from the reservoir during the rainy season to prevent flooding.

Why Mangalore population should remain at 5 lakhs? And Netravati water is not only used by MCC but other regions like Ullal and almost half of DK district including for irrigation. And totally neglected about Pashchima Vahini requirements & other planned industrial requirements.

Just for curiosity, why small reservior requires pumping of water out from the reservoir and why not big one? How does flood water flow out of big reservior into sea without flooding?

To a question, he said that a flexible floating membrane could be fixed to the breakwater to prevent mixing of salt water with fresh flood water.

If it is possible to print solar cells on flexible floating membrane then we can cover entire Pashchima Vahini water zone with it to generate electricity also. But how fishes get oxygen? And I prefer Pashchima Vahini canals to be covered by solar panels with enough height to enable boat movements below.

Still no answers to my earlier questions. Good that non-feasible Tidal Energy is totally forgotten and instead only Wave Energy is discussed. Recently posted High Speed Boat connectivity to Udupi and other neighbouring districts from MIA will be hindered by this project including other impediments listed earlier.

Overall, in my view, the government should first release money for Pashchima Vahini and complete it. If there is still water in the rivers and all preconditions listed in the MIA post above are met then we may start studying feasibility of sea based fresh water reservior or desalination plants for pumping water against gravity.

And still there is no sane voice in the government requesting land for 'School of Economics' in Mangaluru to save the parched districts from the need to supply scarce water to around 5,000 students & staff. Lot of water can be saved by the parched districts if institutes like this one go out of the parched region as these types of institutes attract students & staff from all over Karnataka & India.

Ad-hoc measures may just not be enough to quench thirst of cities

Last year's artificial drought on coastal region was imposed by the state government by not implementing Pashchima Vahini project!

Expert against building desalination plant in city

In addition, after desalination, residues discharged in deep sea would threaten marine life due to high salt content in about one-kilometre radius.

If desalination plant is of 15 tmcft per year capacity then definitely this will happen. But MRPL desalination plant is of only 50 MLD capacity hence side effect will be less. The effect can be further reduced by releasing water in two or three different places.

Meanwhile, opposing building a coastal reservoir in the city, S.G. Mayya, a former professor of applied mechanics and hydraulics, National Institute of Technology, Karnataka (NIT-K), Surathkal, said that it was not feasible as the Arabian Sea was not a bay. The Netravathi carried huge amount of silt during the rainy season and building a reservoir would lead to another environmental issue and it would result in erosion of the coastline. According to Mr. Mayya, land-based water storage was the best alternative to augment water for the future.

Is the Phalguni becoming a sewage drain?

In the mean time the government can release money for initial works on the sewage system so that proposed reservior water if ever built will not get contaminated.

Ban on drilling new borewells lifted

Has the government made ground recharging of rainwater through percolation pits compulsory for these new borewells?

Water storage at Thumbe vented dam: Govt. sanctions Rs. 7 crore compensation

The Chief Executive Officer of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat M.R. Ravi said that the panchayat has plans to construct 1,150 mini vented dams across the district in the next financial year. Each dam would cost Rs. 2.32 lakh. Such dams would help re-charge ground water. He said that the panchayat has plans to dredge and rejuvenate 61 dry water sources (ponds and tanks) in the district under the Kere Sanjeevini programme. Of these, 42 were in Bantwal taluk and the remaining in Mangaluru taluk. This would require Rs. 13.32 crore.

District gears up to tackle water problem
Still unexecuted Pashchimavahini Project

Moodbidri to revive its water bodies
Develop Baggundi lake, Ramanath Rai tells officials

Zilla panchayat members seek recharging of groundwater
Tap water going waste in rivulets, says ZP CEO

Government moots developing new city in KGF to decongest Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Call it an over-ambitious or non-implementable project, the Karnataka government is thinking of developing a new city in Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) to decongest Bengaluru. The plan is to relocate at least 20 lakh of the state capital's population to the new city.

To meet the drinking water needs of the city, desalination plants will be set up and sea water from Mangaluru will be brought to KGF through Yettinahole project pipelines.

Looks more like an election promise for 2018! And one main reason for non-implementability is resistantance to move out of core city apart from other more important reasons. In case of Chennai desalinated water is used for Chennai itself not for supplying 750MW delux water for a remote city. The people using this water will not be able to economically compete with Chennai or even Amaravati where river water itself is used. This one looks like a desparate & jealous attempt to vie with Chennai and Amaravati without any vision for the state.

Karnataka has also proposed four desalination plants at a cost of Rs 3,500 crore. These plants will be established in Udupi (Rs 735.30 crore), Mangaluru (Rs 2,533.61 crore), Saligrama (Rs 76.71 crore) and Kundapura ( Rs 154.42 crore) with the joint venture of Israel-based IDE and Vagas of Indian firm.

The capacity of desalination plant goes on increasing as you hear more news! The state want to beat Tamil Nadu in desalination capacity. The parched city politicians not listening to the sane voices which asked it to use wasted rain water available locally in the parched region. The government is really planning to create costly cities of short life which are by design doomed to collapse economically when cheaper alternative are realized! Naturally work which has come to India for its cheap labour will move to the regions which are really cheap. But million dollar question is how much permanent damage these people cause to Karnataka before this thing happens. When the state government is already planning to relocate people why not they relocate migrated coastal people at least back to the coast from where they had migrated? Plenty of land is available in Mangaluru-Udupi belt itself all along State Highway 67. Even Moodubidre-BC Road region has plenty of land.

As far as satellite cities are concerned the parched city can have revolutionary concept of remote satelitte cities in Mangaluru-Udupi, Hubballi-Belagavi, Ballari-Kalaburgi, Davanagere-Shivamogga. By implementing this, in near future, the parched city is going to get laurels for developing new concept of satellite cities and saving Karnataka from colossal environmental & economical disaster. First start filling Mangaluru then Hubli and then others.

One question remains unanswered is despite all these waste ideas when are they going to release money for Pashchima Vahini? I thought the state would have spend at least half of the amount it is planning to spend on desalination plants on Pashchima Vahini for some useful results. Or not releasing money for Pashchima Vahini is a strategy to make the coast also get parched and then go for more desalination plants?

A way to use 11,000 acres of KGF is for solar park and use that energy for vehicles. That will bring down polluation level of the parched city if not the population level. If the IISc professor can come up with a idea like how to store electricity in unused gold mines by using some kind of environmental friendly liquid electrolyte or some kind of underground hydrogen storage then electricity would be available during night also. (For example, saline water of desalination plant is available as electrolyte.) I think instead of thin membrane thick membrane can be used for insulation coating of mine walls. Hope that would keep the professors and the politicians of the parched city busy in the parched region itself from poking their nose into other parts of the state.

If this is solar park is built then we can abandon expansion of UPCL also.

Suvarna Vahini in budget? Paschima Vahini project revived

Paschima Vahini, Soubhagya Sanjeevini, Suvarna Vahini, ...

State govt. announces Rs. 100 crore to Paschima Vahini project
Mangaluru to get desalination plant

Thumbay vented-dam has 4.3 mtrs water; MLA Lobo instructs to dig borewells
Lobo instructs to dig 33 borewells immediately

I think we should use Netravati water before using borewell water as we can not let Netravati water to get evaporated. To avoid sewage water getting into well study of area to understand whether sewage water will get mixed with rain water is important before constructing percolation pits for these borewells.

Paschimavahini: Ivan wants hike in budgetary allocation
Parched Mangaluru to start rationing water from Monday

When the real estate of lobby of the parched city does not like people from migrating from the parched city to water rich regions definitely there are politicians ready to help them by creating artificial water scarcity in water rich regions. Oh Sorry, there is token amount allocated for Suvarna/Pashchima Vahini as assembly election is nearing.

2 nature ponds of Tardolya will be developed @ Rs 50 lac by minor irrigation department
Old ‘kattas’ make a comeback as mini check dams

Water situation looks grim

Many houses in Mangaluru at height have not received water for almost a week. MRPL happens to be the culprit!

Sea Water in Yettinahole Pipe

So, the plan is not for poor people of Kolar but for building a new city for elites. Definitely now, court case againt Yettinahole project can be won easily as the government itself agreed there is no water but it is going ahead just for ruining environment of westernghat to save its face. And next stage of spoiling environment is of DK shore by increasing the salinity level of sea by building desalination plants of huge capacity instead of implementing Pashchima Vahini and relocating some people to DK from the parched region. This is the way for relocation which is more sustainable environmentally and economically. And any judge who understands the importance of sustainable environmental and economical growth will give judgement against Yettinahole project now as goal of employment generation can be easily achieved by relocating people to coast. Let us see whether the judge allows the real estate lobby of the parched city which encroached lakes of the parched city or converted them into gutters will successfully spoil even Mangaluru sea.

We should be aware of fact that in gulf countries sea is becoming more and more saline and as salinity increases output of desalination plant decreases. Anyway for dispersion of salinity & avoid land acquistion offshore plants are preferred option. Otherwise ready to face consequences of dead sea!

I think Mangalore-Udupi, Hubli-Belgaum, Bijapur-Gulbarga, Bellary-Davangere-Shimoga are the four important belts to be developed in Karnataka to decongest the parched city and region around it.

Why IISc is failing to produce quality scientists who can develop projects like this Scientists build solar-powered device to harvest water from dry air?

While ministers visit for photo sessions people of Moodbidri joined hands to secure their water

Govt plans 1,000 check dams to solve water problem in DK

Eight tanks and lakes to get 4 crore: J R Lobo

Bantwal: Netravati River polluted with all sorts of garbage never seen before

Mangaluru: City gets Supreme Court nod to use water from Lakya dam

Zilla panchayat plans water restoration programme in Dakshina Kannada

Ashwani Kumar N K R, Mangaluru, Apr 13, 2017, DHNS:

Each gram panchayat to get five vented dams

To restore the dipping groundwater, the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat has come up with ‘Jaladhara’ programme, which aims at construction of a minimum of five vented dams in each gram panchayat.

The step gains significance in the wake of acute water shortage in the district.Speaking to DH, Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr M R Ravi said that the groundwater level in the district is at an alarming rate.

“Puttur taluk, with 95% exploitation rate of groundwater, is the worst. Belthangady and Bantwal taluks, with 68% and 66% respectively, are on the verge of danger. Hence, there is an urgent need to recharge groundwater. Construction of vented dams is an effective way to achieve the same, based on the demographic conditions of the district,” he insisted.

1,150 dams

“Under ‘Jaladhara’, at least five vented dams will be constructed in each gram panchayat. There will be 1,150 vented dams in 230 gram panchayats in the district – 290 vented dams are proposed for Bantwal, 240 for Belthangady, 275 for Mangaluru, 205 for Puttur and 140 for Sullia. A total of 291 crore litres of water can be collected in all the taluks,” the CEO gave a calculation.

“The ‘Jaladhara’ programme has been effective from March 2017 and an estimation has been prepared for 352 works, out of which 210 are in progress. The programme is expected to be completed by March 2018. Further, the programme is linked to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). This is expected to generate 20,000 jobs,” the ZP CEO said, adding that Rs 2.32 to Rs 5 lakh can be utilised for a vented dam and a total of Rs 43 crore of MGNREGA funds will be utilised for the programme.

Development of 139 lakes

Under the second phase of the ‘Kere Sanjeevini’ programme, development of 139 lakes has been planned in various gram panchayats of the drought-affected Mangaluru and Bantwal taluks. The Zilla Panchayat has sent a proposal to the state government seeking approval for the works and also sanction of funds to the tune of Rs 15.82 crore.

“Forty lakes in Mangaluru taluk (including Moodbidri) and 99 lakes in Bantwal will be developed. Funds of Rs 8.17 crore have been estimated for Mangaluru and Rs 15.82 crore for Bantwal. A proposal in this regard has been sent by the Zilla Panchayat to the Principal Secretary of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department of the Government of Karnataka in February. The funds are expected to the released shortly,” said Dr Ravi.

Industries, urban residents feel the pain, too

Once water-rich, now starved

This is forced starvation as the government neglected region by not implementing Pashchima Vahini.

The hills are far from alive

Maravoor dam starts drinking water supply to 14 villages

Ground water level going down is dangerous for preserving greenery of these villages. All water pits, ponds, tanks which are intentionally filled (if you don't want malaria & mosquito then have fishes in these ponds) should be dug again. Should not forget that underground water is important for trees. Otherwise trees may wither during scorching summer.

Kempu Hole goes dry

KRIDL water plants do not work: ZP member

Storage at Thumbe rises, MCC lifts rationing of water

Guruvayanakere to get a facelift

Krishi Bhagya scheme extended to coastal, Malnad districts

Under the scheme, the farmers receive funds for constructing farm ponds to harvest and store rainwater and for buying pumpsets to lift water from them during dry spells.

Puttur government schools to go green this year & re-charge ground water

Mangaluru: II Phase of ADB project to begin after monsoon - MLA Lobo

Mangaluru, 06 May 2017: ADB has released Rs 715 crore to undertake second phase of works that got to begin soon after monsoon, said MLA J R Lobo, after holding detailed discussion on second phase of works with ADB joint managing director Tanushree.

Addressing media persons, here on Friday, May 5, MLA Lobo said Rs 715 crore has been sanctioned by ADB to undertake drinking water and underground drainage works in city that got to be executed at the earliest.

He also instructed the municipal officers to begin the works wherever no hindrances and if there is a need to go ahead with acquisition of land for the purpose, but that got to be done without any delay.

Transparency sought in execution of ADB projects