Finance dept.’s approval to new 190MLD water treatment plant at Aluva to be fast tracked

Steps will be taken to expedite the Finance department’s approval for the proposed 190-million litres per day (MLD) water treatment plant of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) in Aluva, which will benefit five municipalities and 13 grama panchayats in Ernakulam.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded project will benefit Kochi Corporation, Aluva, Thrikkakara, Kalamassery, Eloor, and Maradu municipalities, along with Kumbalam, Kumbalangi, Chellanam, Varappuzha, Cheranalloor, Kadamakkudi, Mulavukad, Elamkunnappuzha, Njarakkal, Nayarambalam, Keezhmad, Edathala, and Choornikkara grama panchayats.

This was one of four major decisions taken at a high-level meeting convened by Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine in his chamber to address the acute water shortage affecting many parts of Ernakulam district. Ernakulam MLA T.J. Vinod, Kochi Mayor V.K. Minimol, Kochi Corporation Secretary V.P. Shibu, and KWA officials attended the meeting held on Wednesday.

“The meeting also decided to seek Cabinet approval for pumping an additional 10 MLD of water from the Aluva pump house by strengthening the capacity of motors. Since a tender excess of 9% was reported, it requires the approval of the Cabinet. The Minister assured that the matter would be placed before the next Cabinet meeting itself,” Mr. Vinod said.

It was further decided to fund the construction of a storage tank to replace the one that collapsed at the Thammanam pump house in November last year under the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). The collapse of the tank substantially reducing the storage capacity was one of the reasons for the acute water shortage experienced especially in various parts of Kochi Corporation.

“Initially, the idea was to fund the project under the AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) scheme. But it was found that AMRUT had exhausted its funds. Nor could it be taken up using disaster management funds due to technical reasons,” said Ms. Minimol.

Another decision was to fill up an hitherto unused overhead tank with a capacity of around 15 lakh litres in Vaduthala to address the water shortage along the Vaduthala and Perandoor stretches. This is expected to resolve the issue of water supply not reaching the tail end of the pipe networks at Vaduthala .