The Times of India 31.08.2012
One new water tank on cards for every Patna Municipal Corporation ward
PATNA: Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) is to identify one place in each of the 72 wards for construction of new water tanks to tackle the problem of erratic water supply in the state capital.The urban development and housing board has allotted Rs 534 crore for the purpose. The PMC has to allot land and the Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUDCO) would construct and maintain the tanks. A new underground pipeline would be laid in a stretch of 900,000 metres.
The project is supposed to be completed by April 1, 2014.According to data available with the Jal Parshad, 62,500 water connections have been registered in the PMC area having a population of 16,83,200.A PMC official said, "The new water tanks would be 40-feet high with a storage capacity of 25 lakh litres each." He further said the PMC has already marked places in 32 wards for constructing the water tanks. Renovation of the old water tank near the Jal Parshad office in the New Capital Circle has been already started.There are 19 water tanks of which only 18 are in working condition.
"The existing water tanks fail to supply sufficient water due to old machines. The tanks were erected during the British rule," said a Jal Parshad official.He said there is only one water tank near the Secretariat to supply water in the entire area. "The construction of new water tanks would ensure uninterrupted water supply despite power cuts," he said.
We try to meet the demand of 56 lakh gallons of water per hour by discharging 58 lakh gallons from the 96 pumps. But the damaged pipeline leads to wastage of water, a fact which creates the scarcity," said RK Verma, chief engineer, PMC.
