State Ministers P. Thangamani (Electricity) and V.Saroja (Social Welfare) participated in the function held on Paramathi Road here.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Thangamani said that drinking water was supplied to the residents of 39 wards in Namakkal municipality through three separate schemes with River Cauvery at Mohanur as source.

Under the new drinking water development scheme, a collector well will be constructed in River Cauvery at Jedarpalayam.

The water from the well will be pumped to the treatment plant proposed at Kabilarkurichi and the purified water will be pumped to the 9.15 lakh litre capacity ground level water tank at Thummankurichi.

The water will be later pumped to nine over-head tanks that will be constructed in Namakkal town for regular supply to the town residents. The completion of this project will permanently solve the drinking water problem in this town, Mr. Thangamani said.

M. Asia Mariam, District Collector, presided over the function. The Ministers on the occasion honoured Saravanan, correspondent of Green Park School, and Asokan, correspondent of the Kurinji Public School, for donating eight acres of land for the construction of treatment plant at Kabilakurichi.

The aim of the Rs. 395.41 crore work was to supply additional water to Kurichi and Kuniamuthur - the two municipalities that merged with the Corporation in 2010 - and also to six other areas - Thudiyalur, Vellakinaru, Vilankurichi, Chinnavedampatti, Saravanampatti and Kalapatti.

Once implemented, the residents of the aforementioned areas would get as much water as those in the old city (60 wards) - 135 litres per capita a day (lpcd). At present they get anywhere between 40 and 70 lpcd and that too only once in eight to 10 days.

The sources said that the TWAD Board had designed the project in such a way that it would cater to the needs of the residents till 2048. The population then would be 5.31 lakh and water supply 81 million litres a day.

The Board would tap Siruvani water for the purpose - 35 million litres a day - at Kovaipudur Pirivu on Perur Road from the main line that supplied water to the Gandhi Park reservoir. To make good the diversion, the Board would supply an equal quantity of Pilloor water to the city.

Water tanks

The Board would construct two huge water tanks of 15 lakh litre capacity (master balancing reservoirs) - one in Press Enclave to take of Kuniamuthur’s needs and another in Pillaiyarpuram to take care of Kurichi’s needs.

It would also construct 18 over head tanks of smaller quantity to manage distribution to various areas. Along with the 26 over head tanks in the maintenance of the Coimbatore Corporation, the total tanks available for equitable distribution would go up to 44 in the two localities.

To the households, the Board would also lay pipelines with the longer diameter to supply adequate water, the Board sources said and pointed out that the minimum width of the pipelines would be 110 mm. At present, the maximum width of the pipelines stood at 90 mm.

The move would benefit 48,462 households and 2,146 non-domestic water connection owners in the two localities.