VELLORE: Despite a few hitches, the transport of Cauvery water by train from Jolarpet in Vellore to parched Chennai will begin on schedule from Wednesday.
Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board authorities were busy readying the 3.2 km pipeline connecting Mettusakkarakuppam, where the underground storage tank is located, to the railway yard in Jolarpet.
A trial run to pump water into the pipeline was scheduled for Tuesday morning but got delayed.
“We had to encounter some problems in running the pipe under a culvert. It took a little more time on Monday, so other work too got delayed,” an official said.
“However we are expediting the work to finish it on time,” he added.
A sudden spell of showers on Tuesday evening also delayed the welding work which further put off the trial run. Yet, officials were confident of doing it in the night so that water is supplied to Chennai as per schedule.
“It is just to flush the pipeline and check the filling points in the yard. We will do it even if it lasts into the night and start sending water from Wednesday,” the official said.
The underground storage tank at Mettusakkarakuppam has a capacity of 5 lakh litres. It has been filled with water drawn from the Cauvery River under the Vellore Combined Water Supply Scheme.
As per Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s announcement, it is proposed to transport 10 million litres of water per day from Jolarpet to a water storage facility at Villivakkam in Chennai.
Water will be transported four times a day at a volume of 2.5 million litres per trip. It will take more than three hours to fill 2.5 million litres of water into the wagons, officials said, adding it depends upon the availability of wagons, engines and tracks.
The government had sanctioned Rs 65 crore for the plan to move water from Jolarpet to Chennai.