Kerala Water Authority to add 20 MLD capacity at Maradu treatment plant

The Kerala Water Authority has begun refurbishment work at the Maradu water treatment plant to boost its production capacity from 100 million litres per day to 120 MLD, a move that will make an additional 20 MLD of water available to tackle the ongoing shortage affecting several parts of Kochi.

The expansion will benefit Maradu municipality and Kumbalam, Kumbalangi and Chellanam panchayats, along with the West Kochi area, according to officials.

New pipeline to address carrying capacity bottleneck

The core of the project involves bringing in more water from the raw water pump house at Pazhoor, said KWA sources. A critical constraint currently limiting production is the utility's inability to transport the entire volume of water from Pazhoor to Maradu because the diameter of the pipelines on the stretch from Malekkadu to Maradu is too small.

"This is because the diameter of the pipelines carrying water on the stretch from Malekkadu to Maradu is small. They include two 800-mm-diameter HDPE [high-density polyethylene] pipes that pass through the backwaters. Because of this, there is a limitation in the carrying capacity of the pipes," a KWA source explained.

"As such, our production capacity is limited to 100 MLD. We are trying to address this by laying a new pipeline to carry additional water," the source added.

To overcome this bottleneck, a new 1,000-mm HDPE pipe will be laid over a length of 5.2 kilometres.

Filter bed upgrades to speed up production

Another major component of the refurbishment involves changing the filter beds at the water treatment plant. At present, there are 16 filter beds, of which eight have already been changed to dual-layer filter media. The remaining eight filter beds will also be converted to the dual-layer filter media type.

"With this, we can enhance production as the rate of filtration will be faster, thereby producing clearer water," the KWA source said.

In addition, one of the old pump sets at Pazhoor will be replaced to improve production.

ADB funding and timeline

The refurbishment project is being funded by the Asian Development Bank and is expected to be completed in a year. The project has received financial sanction and is now awaiting administrative sanction, according to sources. "The current production capacity of the plant is 100 MLD. Our attempt is to increase it to 120 MLD," the sources said.

Pipeline rupture disrupts supply in three areas

In a separate development, water supply to several houses in the Perandoor, Elamakkara and Punnakkal areas was disrupted after a KWA pipeline on Edappally Raghavan Pillai Road at Perandoor, Elamakkara, ruptured on Tuesday night.

Hundreds of houses were impacted by the pipe burst, said Seena Gokulan, councillor, Division 27. According to her, temporary repair work was carried out and pumping has resumed, but the pipeline requires a permanent solution, and additional work needs to be carried out.

"Pumping has resumed, but it requires a permanent solution, and additional work needs to be carried out. This will have to be done without affecting pumping to these areas," Ms. Gokulan said.

The pipe burst occurred after a private party tried to lay an underground cable, with drilling work leading to the rupture of the water pipeline at four locations, according to the councillor. A KWA source said the work to permanently fix the issue would be done on Wednesday night without affecting pumping.

Source: The Hindu