The Hindu 24.07.2013
Water project likely to be completed by January-end
Scheme was originally scheduled to be completed by August this year
The work on the second stage of a project to supply drinking water to Davangere has been going on at a brisk pace and is likely to be over by January-end, 2014.
Once the project gets completed, drinking water can be supplied every day to the entire city. At present, it is being supplied at once in six or eight days.
Keeping in mind the expected demand for water by 2026, the city corporation, through the North Karnataka Urban Sector Investment Programme (NKUSIP), had taken up the second stage of the water supply project at a cost of Rs. 25 crore. It was planned to lift 40 million litres a day (MLD) water from Tungabhadra river near Rajanahalli, and bring it from there to Doddabathi water treatment plant at Bathi. From the Bathi plant, 20 MLD water would be sent to Kunduwada lake, where a water treatment plant is existing. Whenever needed, water from the lake would be treated and supplied to people here. If the Kunduwada lake gets filled up, water requirement of Davangere could be met for two months.
Meanwhile, 20 MLD water retained at Bathi plant would be treated and sent to Davangere, using gravitational force.
The city corporation had taken a loan from the Asian Development Bank for the project. While the loan covered 50 per cent of the cost, the State government had agreed to bear 40 per cent and the remaining 10 per cent of the cost had to be borne by the city corporation.
A Malaysian agency had been given the contract to complete the work.
Pipeline
S.D. Vishwanath, Assistant Executive Engineer, NKUSIP, told The Hindu on Tuesday that a 700-mm diameter (ductile iron pipe) pipeline was being laid from Rajanahalli jack well to Doodabathi, covering a distance of 13 km, to bring 40 MLD water from Tungabhadra River to Bathi water treatment plant.
He said that a 15-lakh litre capacity underground water tank was being constructed at Bathi plant to store the treated water. According to Mr. Vishwanath, the total requirement of water in Davangere by 2026 would be about 100 MLD. At present, the city corporation was providing about 50 MLD water. The project had been originally slated for completion by August-end this year, but owing to heavy rain in the last one and a half months and delay in the procurement of materials, the project might get delayed by four to five months. However, the project would be completed by January-end. Already, 97 per cent of the work on laying the pipeline had been completed. A bridge across Solekerehalla, near Haraganahalli, had to be constructed. Two pump sets of 500 HP and two of 1,000 HP had already been procured. Additional power of 500 KVA had been secured, and efforts were on to get another 1,500 KVA. Once the project got completed, water scarcity problem of Davangere would be completely resolved, he said.
