The Aranthangi Municipality has taken up a special project for augmenting supply of drinking water through construction of an overhead tank at Gopalasamuthiram on Avudaiyarkovil Road to cater to drinking water needs of an estimated 900 houses in developing areas spread over six wards.
The work taken up at an estimate of Rs. 40 lakh, sanctioned under the ‘State Finance Commission – Infrastructure Gap Filling Fund scheme for 2008-09, will be completed by the middle of September.
Houses located in a number of areas including Avuliya Nagar, Railway track area, Gopalasamuthiram, Agni Bazar region, Mandikulam and Alangudi area, have been getting drinking water from the Nadimuthu overhead tank, located at a distance in the town.
“With the growth of new residential areas in the above six wards, the supply from the Nadimuthu overhead tank has been causing an extra burden. Hence, a proposal for construction of a new tank with a storage capacity of five lakh litres has been mooted,” says P. Mariappan, Municipal Chairman.
The entire Gopalasamuthiram site had escaped from encroachments about a decade ago. “We immediately constructed a few municipal buildings like ‘anganwadi' and kept the encroachers at bay,” says Mr. Mariappan.
A piece of vacant site in the area has come in handy for the construction of the overhead tank. The new tank would facilitate provision of fresh pipeline connections from the Nadimuthu tank, thereby fetching additional revenue in terms of water tax and deposit money, he said.
Presently, the municipality, with a population of 42,000, supplied 34 lakh litres of water every day.
The litre per capita daily (lcpd) was 80 litres, he said.
