SAMBALPUR: The much-awaited Phase-I of Integrated Rural Piped Water Supply (IRPWS) project for 11 water stressed villages in Rengali and Dhankauda blocks of the district will be made operational soon.
Informing this, Executive Engineer of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS), Sambalpur B P Routray said civil, mechanical and electrical work besides that of distribution system has already been completed. Presently, the trial run is going on and the project will be operational within a month, he said.
Under the IRPWS project, a water treatment plant with a capacity of five MLD besides an overhead tank with capacity of 2 lakh litres have been constructed along State Highway (SH) 10 at Pradhanpali under Dhankauda block. This apart, an overground tank with a capacity of 6.50 lakh litres has been constructed at Kilasama Hillock along the highway.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid the foundation stone for the project at Pradhanpali on February 27, 2015. The estimated cost of the project is `12.42 crore and three industrial houses comprising Vedanta Limited in Jharsuguda besides Aditya Aluminium and Bhusan Power and Steel Limited, both in Sambalpur, have provided funds for it.
Water for the project is being drawn from Hirakud Dam Reservoir. The overhead tank at Pradhanpali will supply water to seven villages of Pitapali, Gaudapali, Bad Pradhanpali, Gunchhamal, Pradhanpali, Jharghati and Kumbharakata, all in Dhankauda block. Similarly, the overground tank at Kilasama Hillock will supply water to four villages of Kilasama in Dhankauda besides Rengali, Ganesh Nagar and Ramchandra Nagar, all in Rengali block.
Water will be supplied to the villages through public stand posts besides household connections. Altogether, around 30,000 villagers will get safe drinking water from Phase-I of the IRPWS Project.
Though the RWSS had set a target to complete Phase-I of IRPWS by May 2016, the work was delayed due to four-laning of SH-10. The four-laning work became a major impediment for laying of pipelines along the highway.