With trial runs on pumping water from the collector wells of the Rs.221.42-crore new drinking water augmentation scheme for the city under way currently, Mayor A.Jaya and senior Corporation officials conducted an inspection of the project works on Tuesday.

The project, financed by Japan International Cooperation Agency, seeks to step up the per capita drinking water supply to 135 litres a day and ensure equitable distribution to all parts of the city. Work on the project is being executed under eight different packages.

Accompanied by Corporation Commissioner V.P.Thandapani, city engineer S.Raja Mohamed and executive engineers R.Chandran and S.Arunachalam, Ms.Jaya visited the pumping stations of the new scheme at the Coleroon river for a spot briefing. She inspected the pumping of water from the collector wells to the common sum, the trial runs on the pumping mains, and the other common sump at Ponmalaipatti from where water would be supplied to 22 overhead tanks.

A corporation press release, issued after the inspection, said 97 per cent of the project work has been completed.

Thirty one of the 37 new overhead tanks sanctioned under the project are ready. Construction of the remaining six tanks is in the final stage.

The corporation had previously promised that the city would get water from the new scheme by the end of this month. The civic body would initially tap about 60 million litres a day (MLD) from the new scheme. The new scheme is designed to provide 93.26 MLD to the city in the ultimate stage in 2039.

Currently, the city gets about 96 MLD of water supply, a bulk of it from the Cauvery, and the additional 60 MLD is expected to tide over the short supply faced in some parts of the city.