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.