Thousands of people residing in places such as Nemom, Karamana, Kalliyoor, Venganoor, Vizhinjam, Kovalam and Vandithadom will soon get respite from shortage of piped potable water with the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) on the final stage of pumping water from its 21.90 million litres a day treatment plant established on the shore of Vellayani lake, the source of water for the project.
“The work for the treatment plant has been completed. We are expecting power connection next week, following which the plant will be made operational. Since the model code of conduct is in place, it will be a low-key launch. The project will bring much relief to the areas reeling under severe water scarcity. The KWA expects to substantially increase the supply to places that come under the ambit of the project from the existing 40 litres per capita per day,” a senior KWA official told The Hindu .
Joint effort
The project, a combined effort of the Tourism Department, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and city Corporation, was originally estimated to cost around Rs.65 crore but was scaled down to Rs.38 crore after it was decided to use the existing distribution network to supply water from the new treatment plant. The decision to provide additional distribution network was abandoned considering the huge cost and time involved in laying new pipe lines.
To Kovalam too
The realisation of the project was made easy with allocation of Rs.16 crore from the Tourism Department as it involves supply of water to Kovalam, a major tourist destination in the city.
The water utility has availed itself of Rs.22 crore from NABARD as loan, the official added.
The project involves drawing water from Vellayani lake using a 420 horse power pump set, subjecting it to conventional alum treatment, aeration, flocculation and sedimentation, and transporting to tanks at Peringamala, Muttakad, Vandithadam, Azhakulam, and Mukkola for distribution.
Treated water
The scheme, which was announced in October 2011, is aimed at providing water to two panchayats and parts of the city Corporation, where for so many years water has been supplied straightaway to distribution lines without any purification process after sourcing from the lake.
