The Hindu 20.11.2014
Demand for drinking water in Mysuru outstrips availability
Rs. 320-crore project at Hale Unduwadi village on the anvil
With the demand for drinking water in Mysuru
outstripping availability, civic authorities are planning to give a
fresh push to the proposed water supply project at KRS backwaters, which
is expected to bring an additional 300 million litres per day (MLD) of
water.
A proposal to implement the Rs. 320-crore
project at Hale Unduwadi village, about two km from KRS dam, has been
prepared and forwarded by the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Sewerage
Board (KUWSSB) to the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and
Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), the nodal agency for the Jawaharlal Nehru
National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
A meeting of
officials from Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW) convened by Mayor R.
Lingappa recently decided to urge the State government to forward the
project to the Centre for approval under JNNURM. “The project should be
implemented either by the Centre under JNNURM or by the State
government,” he said.
VVWW Executive Engineer Jayaram
said the drinking water presently available is barely able to meet the
demands of residents in the limits of Mysore City Corporation. “We are
unable to provide water to residents of the new areas added by MUDA,” he
said.
He said the proposed project, supplemented by
existing drinking water projects, can take care of all areas coming
under Mysore-Nanjangudu Local Area Development Plan. The site for the
proposed project at KRS backwaters has water 365 days of the year and
does not go dry even when the reservoir does, VVWW officials said,
adding that the pipeline from Hale Unduwadi to the city can also provide
water to about 92 villages enroute.
Referring to the
new layouts, which had either already come up or were in different
stages of development, Mr. Jayaram said the demand for drinking water is
expected to shoot up sharply in the coming days. “We are able to
provide water to connections only within the Outer Ring Road (ORR). We
are not able to meet the demand for water from people residing in
layouts outside the ORR,” a VVWW official conceded. The project
envisages construction of a jackwell at Hale Undawadi, 2 km upstream of
the KRS reservoir; and a water treatment plant at Beechanakuppe, about 4
km away. The project also requires acquisition of about 167 acres of
land, officials added.