The Hindu 06.09.2012
Rs.127 crore spent on Kothur tank works
The Kothur summer storage tank on the city outskirts, spread over 500 acres with a capacity of 2 tmc, has come as an alternative source for augmenting drinking water supply to meet the increasing needs of Nellore and its surroundings.
Development works at a cost of Rs.127 crore have been carried out on the tank project, which involved construction of five new overhead water tanks at Podalakuru Road, Mahatma Road, Padarupalli, Magunta Layout and Military Colony. With this, improved water supply is ensured to nearly 1.5 lakh population in the city limits.
The summer storage works were started in 2010 after the officials of the Nellore Municipal Corporation (NMC) found that it would be difficult to meet the needs of increasing city population solely based on the then existing sources drawn from Penna river. Reduced pressure in pipelines was another reason because of which people in remote areas faced difficulties in supply.
In all, Nellore requires 69 million litres per day (mld) with most of the requirement being met from the river water sources. The supply capacity of Kothur summer storage tank is 18 mld with the NMC authorities presently drawing 9 mld each day from this source.
Municipal Engineer T. Sampath Kumar said that as of now, there was a need to draw just 9 mld from Kothur tank and increased drawal would depend on future requirement.
On reports of dirty water in Vengalraonagar, Gandhinagar and such places, he said that there was no problem at the storage tank level and the problems had been rectified at the local level. Due to problems in pipelines in specific colonies, there were chances of coloured water coming from the municipal taps. As there was a lot of land at the Kothur storage tank, the officials made a proposal to develop it as a tourism spot by constructing guest houses and other facilities.
