Chandigarh’s water storage capacity set to double in six months
MC commissioner says work will be allotted soon; once commissioned, it will prevent disruptions in water supply
The Chandigarh municipal corporation has set six-month deadline for doubling the city’s water storage capacity. Tenders are to floated within a week, said officials privy to the development.
“The allotment of work will be done soon,” said MC commissioner KK Yadav, adding that a six-month target has been set to ensure that by the next summer, the additional water storage capacity becomes operational at the Sector-39 waterworks reservoir.
The move is important for ensuring continuous water supply to the city. At present, the Sector-39 waterworks, which receives supply from the Kajauli waterworks and takes care of the city’s demand, has underground water storage capacity of only half a day. While water stored in the morning is supplied to the city in the evening, the evening storage is supplied in the morning.
With the peak water demand in summers touching 120-125 million gallons per day (MGD), the current availability of 90-95 MGD was found inadequate, as it led to low water pressure. The supply is also hit if there is any disruption in supply from the Kajauli waterworks due to pipe leakages or maintenance works.
The long-pending work got the go ahead after Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) on June 10 agreed to give Rs 11 crore to the MC for the purpose. The MC had approved Rs 38 crore for the project, but with only Rs 27 crore available for it, the project hadn’t taken off.