Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Apr 30: The state government is learnt to have planned to entrust water supply from reservoirs and maintenance of basic plant and augment water distribution system of urban bodies in a transparent way, to Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB). With this, the government plans to handle a number of issues faced in supplying water to urban centres in the state like deficiency in proper distribution of water, maintenance of basic plant and maintain transparency by giving the responsibility of integrated management of water supply schemes to a single entity.

It is gathered that currently the board has been obtaining information about water distribution systems and officials of the board have been visiting local bodies to get a clear picture about the current state of affairs of the water distribution system there and submit a list of things needing attention to their central office.

In future, management and maintenance of Thumbe dams supplying water to Mangaluru and managing water supply till the water collection plant at Padil - Bendorewell will fall under the KUWSDB jurisdiction. From there, supplying water to houses will be looked after by the city corporation. Till 1994, management of dams was under this board, after which it was handed over to the local bodies.

However, taking over this responsibility in 61 cities all over Karnataka is not easy as the board may find shortage of personnel, encounter soaring expenses and the possibility of the board and the municipalities pointing fingers at each other whenever there is deficiency in water supply.

Urban development minister, U T Khader, said that the government has planned to entrust the responsibility of managing water from its source to the collection centres to upgrade water supply systems in urban bodies. He said that the government will announce its decision on this issue soon.

In the near future, the management of underground drainage and management of effluents treatment centres in urban centres other than city corporations is also planned to be entrusted to the board it is learnt.