The Hindu 03.03.2010
Dy. Mayor defends alternate day water supply
Staff Reporter
| Dorabbayee says the practice is being resorted to prevent crisis in future |
At present the city has been receiving 50 mgd of water, says Dorabbayee
‘Demand for drinking water has gone up after merger of 32 villages with GVMC’
VISAKHAPATNAM: The water levels in Raiwada, Thatipudi, Yeleru and Meghadrigedda Reservoirs are at their lowest with only about 10 to 15 per cent availability of storage capacity available in them at the moment. The supply of water on alternate days has been resorted to avoid drinking water crisis in future, said Deputy Mayor Kotharu Dorabbayee.
Addressing a media conference here on Tuesday, he said at present the city was receiving 50 mgd (Million Gallons/ Day) which includes 28 mgd from Godavari, 13 mgd from Raiwada and six mgd from Thatipudi Reservoir. Of the 50 mgd, 10 mgd was being supplied to meet industrial needs, while the remaining 40 mgd water was being supplied to meet the drinking water needs of the city. The alternate day supply of one hour would ensure that the available water resources could be used till April-end.
Mr. Dorabbayee said daily water supply could be restored if the city received a few spells of rain in between. He felt that the suggestions being made in some quarters that instead of alternate day supply for an hour, the supply could be made daily for half-an-hour, were not feasible. Line discharges and wastage could be minimised if water was given for one hour at a stretch, he said.
He said the demand for drinking water has increased after the merger of 32 villages in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC). It would go up further with the population of the city projected to reach 30 lakhs by 2020 due to large-scale migration as a result of the proposed petro corridor complex and IT hubs.
Referring to the release of 175 cusecs of water to farmers from the Raiwada Reservoir from February 26, the Deputy Mayor said he had written to the District Collector seeking a temporary reduction in the supply for irrigation as it would result in a drastic fall in the water level in the reservoir and thereby affect the drinking water supply to the city.
Mr. Dorabbayee said the GVMC had proposed Rs.14 crores for repair of bore wells and public taps under the Summer Action Plan. The approval of the State Government was awaited in this regard.
Replying to queries, he said 10 per cent of the 6,000 borewells in the city needed repairs and an additional 265 bore wells were sanctioned this year. He said DPRs (Detailed Project Reports) were sought for a laying of a pipeline for bringing Godavari water to the city with about Rs.1,000 crores and for the Raiwada pipeline with Rs.200 crores to meet the future water needs of the city.
He said de-silting at Mudasorlova Reservoir would be regulated and in other reservoirs it had to be taken up by the Irrigation Department.
Chief Engineer B. Jayarami Reddy, Superintending Engineer V. Chandrayya and Corporator Hanumantha Rao were also present at the media conference.
