Coimbatore Corporation has lined up a couple of projects to improve water supply for not only the city but also for areas to be annexed. And thereby ensure parity in supply.
Official sources say that as per the Government of India norms the Corporation has to supply 135 litres per capita per day (lpcd) to residents within the city limit.
In keeping with the norms, it will have to supply the same quantity for residents of the three municipalities, seven town panchayats and a village panchayat as soon as they become a part of the Coimbatore Corporation.
To do so the Corporation will require additional water as the residents in municipalities at present get only 110 lpcd, those in town panchayats get only 90 lpcd and those in village panchayats get 70 lpcd.
One of the projects the civic body is planning to take up is digging a second tunnel under the Periyakombai hill to convey Pilloor water. If the project is implemented, the Corporation will be able to convey an additional 265 million litres a day (mld).
As such there exists a tunnel, dug by the then Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, for ferrying the water. The tunnel has the capacity to carry 265 mld but is conveying only a little over 130 mld, which is the quantity of water pumped under the Pilloor Phase I scheme. Once the corporation completes the Pilloor Phase II scheme, the tunnel will be used to the full, as another 130 mld will be conveyed through it.
The sources reason that for requirements in the future, the Corporation will have to pump in more water from the Pilloor Dam. And that cannot be done without an additional tunnel.
The Corporation sources say the second tunnel will be as long as the first tunnel – 3.85 km – and is likely to be separated from the first tunnel by 90 m.
The cost for digging the second tunnel has been estimated to be around Rs. 20 crore.
The sources say the Corporation has sent a proposal in this regard to the State Government on April 27, 2011. Once the Government gives the nod, the Corporation will prepare a detailed project report, forward the same to the Government, get its approval, float tender and then award the work.
