Udupi (The Hindu): With water level in the Swarna at Baje Dam, which provides water to Udupi city, declining, the Udupi City Municipal Council has decided to adopt water rationing and supply water on alternate days from Thursday.

In fact, the water level in the Baje Dam stood at 3.72 m on Tuesday, while it was 4.86 m on March 21, 2016. The drastic reduction in the monsoon has affected Udupi district, which was declared drought-hit this year, for first time since its formation.

The decline in the monsoon has also affected water level in the Swarna and the water supply to the city. “There is no alternative but to adopt water rationing as the condition is precarious,” said D. Manjunathaiah, municipal Commissioner, told The Hindu.

K. Raghavendra, Environment Engineer of the municipal council, said that normally water flow in the river stopped in the last week of January or the first week of February. However, this year it stopped in early January itself.

The calculation is that if water rationing is started now, water in the Baje Dam would last till May 25 or May 30. “We were hoping for some rain now, but those hopes have been dashed,” Mr. Manjunathaiah said.

As there was some storage of water near Marne Bridge (downstream Baje Dam), the municipal council hopes to pump that water to the Baje Dam.

Also, this water is being used by the Bommarbettu Gram Panchayat to provide drinking water in Hiriyadka village and its surrounding areas.

“The argument of the panchayat is that it is the only source of water for its residents. But they do not require so much water. We will urge them to release about 70 % of the water near Marne Bridge to us, while they could use the remaining water,” he said.

Combining water-rationing with pumping water from the Marne Bridge, the municipal council hopes to provide water till the end of May to Udupi residents. Besides, the officials hope that the situation might ease a little if there are some showers by then.