KMC works on war footing to save city from water crisis

Kolkata: The Water Supply department of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) worked overnight to bring the situation under control, after the valve of a pumping station of Garden Reach Water Treatment Plant in South Kolkata developed a snag and water drained out.

Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who oversees the Water Supply department of the civic body, rushed to the spot soon after the problem was reported on Saturday night and supervised everything as engineers undertook work on war footing to ensure that there was as little problem as possible for the people in large parts of South Kolkata, that depend on the supply of potable water from the treatment plant.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called up the Mayor on Sunday and took stock of the situation. She instructed him to ensure that there is no inconvenience to the citizens due to the problem.

Water supply was partially affected in parts of South Kolkata including Maheshtala, Pujali and Budge Budge area, but at around 10 am, there was normalised supply of water, much to the relief of the people.

"Garden Reach Water Treatment Plant has as many as 4 pumping stations. The valve of one of these stations cracked, after which water drained out rapidly. Water of more than 15 feet height had drained out. Divers from the Disaster Management team were pressed into service, who managed to trace the leak point and it was sealed at around 1.30 am on Sunday," an engineer from the Water Supply department said.

The job for the engineers was made more difficult as there was a short circuit in GRW owing to this and the entire area was submerged in darkness.

The other three pumping stations are working and they have put in some additional pumps to ensure that there is no problem in the supply of potable water.

"We have sent the defective pump to our workshop for repair, but we are not too sure on how much time it will take to put this pump to use," a senior official of the Water Supply department said.

It may be mentioned that around 18 million gallons of water is supplied on a daily basis from Garden Reach Water Treatment Plant and people living in areas of Jadavpur, Garden Reach, Behala, Tollygunge and areas in South 24-Parganas like Maheshtala, Budge Budge and Pujali, depend on the water supply of Garden Reach.

The civic body has decided to purchase three pumps and keep them as stand-by, to tackle similar situations in future.