KARWAR: The water crisis has hit INS Kadamba Naval base in Karwar hard. In this backdrop, officials are planning to shift some warships to Mumbai to fulfill the water requirements of warships and submarines. This is the first time in the history of the naval base that it is facing such a crisis.
The base is the home port of India’s only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya and other major warships and submarines. Millions of litres of water are required every day for their maintenance as well to feed crew and residential quarters.
According to naval base sources, it has become difficult to handle the severe water crisis. Last week, INS Deepak, a fleet tanker, brought water from Mumbai to Karwar base. Thousands of litres of water were stored in barges and other storage facilities which are sufficient for next 4-5 days to maintain ships and submarines. If the rain gets delayed further and water supply does not begin, more than half of the ships will be shifted to Mumbai until things get better.
Tanker water is also being supplied from various villages and Goa.
Water to the base comes from Gangavali river in Ankola taluk. As the river has dried up, water supply has almost stopped. Along with the base, Karwar, Ankola, Gokarna and many villages are being supplied with the river water. The base requires six million litres per day (MLD), but it is receiving less than 1 MLD water.