BHUBANESWAR: With the Capital City in the grip of a severe water crisis, the State Government has initiated special measures to restore power supply to water treatment plants and pumping stations to bring water supply on track in phases. Supply from the water treatment facility of Public Health Engineering Organisation (PHEO) at Mundali, which meets the drinking water need of 70 per cent of the City’s population, is severely hit as Mundali-Chandaka pipeline was badly damaged due to uprooting of trees. Mundali is one of the three water treatment facilities of the City and covers Kalinganagar to Patia, Jadupur to Pokhariput and part of Unit-8 to Fire Station.
In a bid to restore power supply to the pumping station at Mundali and treatment plant at Ghatikia, the State Government had arranged two 1,500 KW generators. However, panels of the two high-end generators were damaged due to the cyclone. “As spares are not available in City, the State Government used helicopter service to get spare parts and mechanics from Kolkata to repair the generators for immediate use,” official sources said.
A senior engineer in-charge of water production at Water Works, Palasuni said the plant here has the capacity to treat 85-90 million litre of water per day. With two of the four water pumps working with the help of generators, the plant is able to supply only 60 per cent of its capacity.
The other deterrent for use of all the four motors with DG set for drawing water from Kuakhai river is the high cost of production. Each of the DG set consume at least 7,200 litre of diesel per day. The cost of the fuel comes to around `5 lakh. If generators are used for all the four water pumps, the cost of fuel will be to the tune of `20 lakh.
Though payment is not a problem, the officer said arranging such huge quantity of diesel and storing the fuel is a major issue. The PHEO has also initiated measures for supply of water through water tanks to areas where water pressure is low. The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation is assisting the PHEO in supplying drinking water to slum pockets and temporary cyclone shelters