Friday, June 14, 2013

Water Supply

Cities, experts say, cannot exist without water. In fact, most major cities of the world are on the banks of rivers or in coastal areas where surface water or ground water is available in plenty. I think of Fatepur Sikri where a whole capita city had to be abandonned since there was not water. Water supply sources are being created throuugh JnNURM.
Last Monday, I held a review of the projects on water supply. A large number of water treatment plants are being built, both in ADDA region and KMDA region. Insofar as KMDA area is concerned, 877 mld (million litres per day) of additional water treatment plant capacity is being added under UIG of JnNURM.. The 877 mld is in addition to the capacity of existing WTPs (2246 mld). This means an increase in 39% of the existing capacity. It is also fit to cater to the requirements of 6.5 million additional people, taking the per capita water requirement to be 135 lpcd. Already commissioned WTP are at Uluberia (46 mld), Kalyani (136 mld), Garulia  (19mld). Some of the WTPs where work is going on include Madhyamgram (140 mld), Dhapa (136 mld), Baranagar (136 mld), Bhatpara (104 mld), Bally (48 mld), Titagarh-Khardah ((70mld), Bansberia (68 mld) etc. The target is to complete all the WTPs by March 2014.
* * *
Here is a clipping from today's Telegraph (Salt Lake):

3 comments:

  1. Sir, though I have no doubt on your execution capabilities, but if we see the published progress in KMDA website as on 30.11.2012, completing all these projects by March 2014 will be too ambitious a target.

    http://www.kmdaonline.org/html/phys-prog_uig.php

    Progress of projects under JNNURM also depend a lot on the funds released by State Govt. Also WB has a decades old culture of stopping all work from the onset of monsoon to the end of Diwali. You might need to fight a lot of odds.

    Best of luck for your efforts Sir.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your comparison with Fatehpur Sikri is really nice. Same is happening with Bangalore as well with depleting ground water level.

    Piped drinking water supply is a feature across the developed world....and in fact uninterrupted water and electricity supply is the symbol of any urban civilization.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sir, thanks for extending great utility service for the residents of Kolkata. But, the fact remains that those Water Treatment Plants (WTP) should be properly run and maintained by skilled operators/ technicians/engineers having wealth of experience. Regular supply of good quality chemicals is essential. Otherwise, there may be a threat to ensure uninterrupted supply of good quality water. There is every reason to believe that all these aspects are taken care of judiciously by the competent Water Supply Managers of the WTPs.

    ReplyDelete