GUNTUR: Guntur city will soon have an all-new underground drainage system, which will replace the existing one put in place way back in 1976.
The existing system is unable to address the needs of the growing city and even moderate rain can cause the drains to overflow.
The present system covers Arundalpet, Old Guntur, Guntur One Town, Nallacheruvu, Pottisriramulu Nagar, Ramnadh Kshetram, Kannavari Thota, Nagarampalam and Lalapeta only. The system has gone kaput in Lalapet due to which drains are overflowing onto the roads. The older system was meant to cater to just two lakh people, while the Guntur Municipal Corporation’s current population is around 7 lakhs and the area is spread in 70 sq km. The older system did not factor in sewage treatment plant.
Several locals are unhappy with the old system. Older system is causing a lot of inconvenience to the general public, said Y Srinivasa Rao of Arundelpet. The older system is useless said P Balaji Rao, who welcomed the new system.
The new system will link 1.40 lakh households and will be connected to 11 treatment plants to be set up at various parts of the city.
The GMC drainage system has learnt from the shortcomings of the system introduced in Vijayawada in 2008. Similarly, states like Punjab, Karnataka and Maharashtra have modernised their drainage system way back in 2006. It includes treatment plant system, where drain water and bio-waste are segregated. The water is recycled into the farms or factories. Such modern environmental protection systems have to be introduced in all cities as per a 2015 global pact.
Public Health superintending engineer NVRK Prasad says the proposed drainage system will come to a final shape by November this year and would be completed in three years at a cost of `540 of which the State Government will provide `400 crore. The new system will draw 123 million litres of sewage water everyday.