The Hindu 05.04.2013
KWA to install 450-hp pump at Sasthamcotta
Water supply to Kollam city to be improved.
In order to improve water supply to Kollam city, the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) is installing a new 450-hp pump to draw water from Sasthamcotta Lake. The pump, expected to start operating in two weeks, will complement the existing 250-hp pump at the KWA pump house at Sasthamcotta.
According to the KWA, the new pump is being installed because the flow through the feeding channel of the pump house has become weak following a big drop in the lake’s water level. The water level has fallen by over one metre compared to the level in the same period last year. This has affected supply to the city badly.
While earlier the city was provided with daily water supply for a couple of hours in the morning, following the fall in the channel’s flow, the city was bifurcated into two zones by the KWA and supply provided on alternate days to each zone. The system is operating without much complaint as the supply is largely seen to be satisfactory.
The new pump has been installed at a location where the water has appreciable depth. It will feed the feeding channel of the pump house.
This will improve the water position in the pump house well and in turn enable the pump house to supply more water to the treatment plant and in the process improve supply to the city. Since the water wells in many areas of the city have gone dry because of the drought situation, people are depending more and more on the KWA supply.
The water treatment plant at Sasthamcotta has an installed capacity to treat 37.5 million litres of water per day. But the current water level in the lake permits an intake of only 28 million litres per day. Since the flow through the feeder channel has fallen considerably, only about 15 million litres of water per day is being pumped now.
KWA authorities hope that when the new pump is operated the pump house will be in a position to draw 28 million litres of water per day. But if the water level in the lake continues to drop, that much intake may not be possible. Still, the supply to Kollam will be comparatively better.
