Nine million gallons per day (MGD) of canal water from new phases 5 and 6 of Kajauli waterworks reached the storage facility at Sector 39, Chandigarh, on Wednesday.
Remaining 20 MGD water will be received through a new 40km pipeline within a week.
Municipal corporation (MC) already receives 58 MGD water from first four phases of Kajauli waterworks. Additional 29 MGD of supply will take the total canal water availability to 87 MGD. MC commissioner KK Yadav, who took stock of the supply at the Sector 39 facility, said the civic body would start getting whole 29 MGD supply within a week or 10 days.
The MC chief said that since raw water contains lot of dust particles, the next process would be to filter it and then pass it on to the public. “All the filtration process installed at Sector 39 waterworks have already been activated but will take at least one month to stabilise and make it potable,” he said. The MC official also said that the newly constructed raw water storage tank with 6 MGD capacity was filled up from the water supplied on Wednesday. “Panchkula and Chandimandir too will be sending supply of 3 MGD water each within one week,” he said, adding that water pressure to higher floors will hugely improve with commissioning of the project.
“Motors will maintain good pressure due to the availability of additional 29 MGD water, helping us ensure enough water for the first and second floors,” said an engineer dealing with the matter. “Earlier, pressure remained low during summers due to lesser water availability that resulted into sluggish performance by motors,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Motors will maintain good pressure due to the availability of additional 29 MGD water, helping us ensure enough water for the first and second floors,” said an engineer dealing with the matter. “Earlier, pressure remained low during summers due to lesser water availability that resulted into sluggish performance by motors,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}‘Will demand special grant from governor’
MC will officially put forth its demand before Punjab governor-cum-UT administrator VP Singh Badnore for special grant of ₹40 crore for increasing its water storage capacity. The demand will be put forth during Badnore’s address to councillors on Friday.
The project hit a roadblock last month when UT administration refused ₹38 crore special grant required for the project.
Chandigarh’s current water storage capacity suffices only for half a day. This makes it tough to maintain supply whenever there is a fault in the canal’s supply line. A proposal to increase the water storage capacity to two days in a phased manner is already under consideration.
Mayor Rajesh Kalia said he would approach the UT administrator to grant special funds for the construction of additional supply so that city does not suffer during temporary breakdowns in Kajauli waterworks.