The Hindu 20.09.2010
Collection well of water treatment plant caves in
Special Correspondent
| It affects drinking water supply to about three lakh people in the city |
PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR 
Cracks developed in the concrete around the collection well of the water plant at Ramalingeswara Nagar in Vijayawada on Sunday.
VIJAYAWADA: The collection well of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation's (VMC) ten-MGD water treatment plant in Ramalingeswaranagar sank into the infirm ground affecting water supply to about 3 lakh people in the city on Sunday.
The officials are unable to say how long it would take to restore water supply through the network of pipes. Drinking water would be provided to the affected through tankers.
Report sought
Huge cracks developed in the concrete around the well into which water collects making it appear as if the water treatment plant has been hit by an earthquake.
The VMC sources said that the collection well sank by about one to one and half feet at around 10.30 a.m.
The water treatment plant with the capacity to make potable ten million gallons of water per day was established with an expenditure of Rs. 9.7 crores. The treatment plant that caters to people living in Devinagar, Bank Colony, Ramalingeswaranagar and Ranigarithota of municipal divisions 8 to 16 was commissioned in 2005. Engineers of the Public Works Department designed the treatment plant. The construction was also supervised by its engineers. Even as the Public Works Department announced that it would sent a team of experts to look into the debacle, the VMC sought a preliminary report from a team of experts from the V.P. Siddhartha Enginerring College led by N.R.K. Murthy.
The team of exports reportedly said in their preliminary report that the sinking of the collection well was caused by ‘sand blow-out'.
