Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday, through video conference, laid the foundation stone for a new drinking water supply scheme for 73 habitations in Veppur Panchayat Union in the district.
The Chief Minister, during the District Collector’s conference in March 2018, had announced that a feasibility study would be taken up for executing a scheme to supply water to the habitations from Vellar river. Subsequently, administrative sanction was granted for the project estimated at a cost of ₹22.84 crore with the support of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.
The scheme envisages supply of 2.91 million litres a day (MLD) to a population of 62,386 in the habitations in the immediate stage and 3.47 MLD to the anticipated population of 74,589 in the intermediate stage in 2035 and 4.05 MLD to a population of 87,270 in the ultimate stage in 2050.
As planned, the Vellar river would be the source for the scheme. Four collector wells would be established on the river bed and a collection sump would be built on the southern bank of the river near Pennakonam. Pumping mains would be laid for a distance of about 67 km to pump water to 71 existing overhead tanks and five to be built anew. The water would be supplied through an existing distribution network running for a total length of 109.54 km.
