BENGALURU: The Thippagondanahalli (Chamarajasagara) reservoir, located 29 km from the city on Magadi Road, is gearing up to receive the 1.7 TMC (thousand million cubic) feet of water from the Yettinahole project. The Rs 291.57-crore project, which was expected to be in place by March this year, will now take another year to be ready because of the delay caused by a shortage of manpower due to the pandemic.
Located at the confluence of the Arkavathi and Kumudavathi rivers, the reservoir built-in 1933 by Sir M Visvesvaraya was the drinking water lifeline for the city for decades until the city’s growth exploded. It was fully shut in December 2012 due to lack of rain and the poor quality of water here due to chemicals making it unfit for consumption. The reservoir shot to infamy after two actors died here during the shooting of a film on November 7, 2016.
The New Indian Express was given exclusive access to the restricted site to take stock of the progress being made on the `Revival/Refurbishment of Thippagondanahalli Water Supply Scheme’. It plans to provide 110 Million Litres Per Day (MLD) of drinking water to the city next year.
Nearly 300 workers are on site carrying out works across the sprawling campus. Megha Engineer Infrastructure (MEI) has been contracted with the work. The reservoir was filled up to 28.5 feet against the total capacity of 74 feet.
S Raghu, Executive Engineer, TG Halli, said, “We have completed 90 per cent of the work on the STP which can treat up to 20 Million Litres Per Day (MLD) of sewage. It will be ready for commissioning within two months.” Water from Yeshwantpur and Peenya areas that flow along this direction will be treated by the STP and released into the reservoir as soon as it is ready.
On the status of the key project, a water treatment plant, S Ramachandra Gowda, Assistant Executive Engineer, said, “We have completed up to 65 per cent of civil works. It is a massive, unique project for us. We have imported Disc Filters from Sweden and Plate Setters (used in the clarification technique during treatment) from France.” Jayaram of MEI said 29 km of water pipeline is already present from TG Halli to CJF reservoir in Malleswaram.