DEFYING PREDICTIONS that it would dry up by the start of May, Yeshwant Sagar continues to provide water to parched denizens nearly three weeks later.
The quanta of water supplied from the reservoir has dropped only marginally, from 2.5 to 2 million gallons, despite the intense heat.
With luck, and a little rain, Waterworks officials hope that Yeshwant Sagar reserves may stretch for as long as another month.
Reservoir water is funneled on alternate days to Rajwada, Bada Ganpati, Jinsi and other parts of western Indore with supply timings from 5:30 to 7:30 am. It also feeds Sadar Bazaar, BSF, MP Nagar and Subhash Nagar overhead tanks.
“At the moment there is nearly three feet of water in the channel leading from the siphon to the pumping station, sufficient for it to be transported through gravity”, revealed City Engineer (Waterworks and Drainage) GP Pathak.
Further, two ponds adjoining the reservoir also contain plentiful water reserves. And so, the proposal to deepen the channel and pump water mechanically to the station has been shelved for the moment and, in fact, may be dropped altogether.
After consultations with Narmada Project officials the Waterworks Department has now decided to pump reservoir water to the pumping station through 6” pipes laid along the 750 m long channel rather than deepening the waterway.
{{/usCountry}}After consultations with Narmada Project officials the Waterworks Department has now decided to pump reservoir water to the pumping station through 6” pipes laid along the 750 m long channel rather than deepening the waterway.
{{/usCountry}}“When the reservoir swells, post rains, the channel would be washed away and the deepening process would have to be repeated every year until 2009, when Narmada-III becomes operational”, pointed out Mayor-in-Council member in-charge of Waterworks Munnalal Yadav.
Laying the pipeline, on the other hand, would only involve a one-time expenditure of around Rs 10 lakh. “Of this, Rs 6 lakh would go towards pipe procurement and the remaining towards purchasing a 30 HP motor to pump the water”, he added.
The pipes are to be purchased from MP Laghu Udyog Nigam (MPLUN) and Assistant Engineer Supekar has already been despatched to Bhopal to work out procurement modalities.