The city’s water woes will be finally resolved to some extent with the partial commissioning of the 100-mld water treatment plant at Maradu.The trial run of the plant will begin on Saturday.
With KSEB on Friday providing connection to one of the motors at Pazhoor to pump raw water from the Piravom river, the seven-year-old project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) is nearing completion.
Another motor will be connected within the next three months when the project will become fully commissioned. The two motors will be pumping water to produce 100 mld water for distribution.
An official of Kerala Water Authority, which undertook the Rs.250-crore project, said only one connecting link for Chellanam remained to be completed in the distribution network. The sanction of Railway was awaited to provide the link under the railway line in Aroor. The work would be completed by the time the plant is fully commissioned, he added.
The project was delayed because of protests by people against cutting roads to lay pipelines that would carry water to a distance of 22 km to a treatment plant.
With city water supply getting augmented, supply to the tail end regions of the distribution network in Kumbalanghi, Chellanam and Maradu areas will improve besides providing additional supply to the city’s pump houses. The city so far has only one water supply plant at Aluva with 225 mld capacity that is being stretched to produce up to 265-70 mld to meet the needs of the people.
