Minister reviews progress of water treatment plant in Berhampur

BERHAMPUR: State Housing and Urban Development Minister Sarada Prasad Nayak made a whirlwind tour of Berhampur recently to review the progress of a new drinking water treatment plant coming up at Dakhinpur on the outskirts of the city. This new project is aimed at alleviating the perennial drinking water crisis in the city that worsens during the summer months. Executive engineer of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Debasundar Mohapatra said activation of this new drinking water treatment plant would surely reduce drinking water problem in the city. This new drinking water treatment plant being constructed with an investment of around five crore rupees is scheduled to be completed by April 15.

It is expected to add up extra water supply of around 20 Million Litres per Day (MLD) to the city. During his interaction with media persons at the project site of the treatment plant Mr. Nayak stressed the fact that the engineers and builder must not let the completion of project delayed by any means. According to the records the city gets 37 MLD of water everyday from two sources. During harsh summer months drinking water supply gets reduced. The extra water supply from the new treatment plant would help solve the problem of scarcity of drinking water in the city this summer. Mr Nayak said the State government has prepared long term plan for solving the drinking water problem in the city. The aim was to provide round-the-clock piped water in next few years, he said. The process has already started, he said.

Mr. Mohapatra said that the whole city has been divided into 27 zones for proper drinking water supply management. Twenty elevated storage reservoirs and 11 underground storage reservoirs would be built in different parts of the city for undisrupted supply. The existing water pipeline would be renovated to check loss of water. New pipelines would be added for unconnected areas. But the dream of 24 hour- piped water supply is linked to a Rs. 250-crore long-term project. The plan is to bring 125 MLD of water from Janibili reservoir to Dakhinpur through a closed pipeline.

Source: The Hindu