Normal water supply is set to resume across south Calcutta on Sunday morning following a successful 22-hour maintenance shutdown at the Garden Reach waterworks that began Saturday morning, officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said.
During the shutdown, KMC officials replaced valves in multiple locations, provided a connection to a new booster pumping station, and laid new pipelines along a 1km stretch between the Rashbehari crossing and Mudiali.
Around 6pm on Saturday, the process to produce potable water began at the Garden Reach waterworks. Sources said the water would be sent to booster pumping stations from Saturday night, allowing supply to households to resume on Sunday morning.
“The shutdown was necessary to undertake repairs. All planned development work has been completed successfully. Normal water supply will resume from Sunday morning,” said a senior KMC official.
Water supply was stopped across large parts of south Calcutta from 9.30am on Saturday. Areas affected included Jadavpur, Tollygunge, Behala, Joka, Maheshtala, Kasba and Budge Budge.
Sources in the KMC said normal water supply hours in the city are 7-9am, noon-1pm, and 5-6pm.
Saturday’s work involved laying a new pipeline under SP Mukherjee Road to replace an old pipeline that had leaked repeatedly.
“A 1km stretch between Mudiali and the Rashbehari crossing had leaked multiple times in recent years. We decided to stop using this stretch and lay a fresh pipeline,” an official said.
Small diversions were made at both ends of the damaged stretch. The new pipeline was laid parallel to the old one and connected to non-damaged stretches at both ends. “The damaged pipeline will remain buried but is now defunct,” the official said.
KMC officials said they will closely monitor the functioning of the new pipeline once water supply resumes to ensure there are no leaks and that the flow of water is normal.
The civic body is also set to close the ditches dug at the Rashbehari crossing and near Mudiali on Sunday, contingent upon the absence of issues with the newly installed pipeline. Restoration of the road will take several weeks, as the soil needs time to settle. Laying of the bituminous top layer cannot proceed until the underbed has stabilised sufficiently.
By 6pm on Saturday, the Garden Reach plant had started drawing raw water from the Hooghly, an official said. The raw water is treated at the plants and converted into potable water. The treated water is then sent through a network of pipelines to various booster pumping stations that serve specific areas.
“The process of sending water to the booster pumping stations will start by Saturday night, so that normal water supply can resume from Sunday morning,” the official said.
Other works completed include a connection to a pipeline carrying potable water to an under-construction booster pumping station at Vivekananda Park. At some places, old and deteriorating valves were replaced.