Two booster pumping stations along with two reservoirs of 3 million gallon capacity each will be commissioned over Friday and Saturday, one each in Metiabruz and Behala’s Shakuntala Park, both in the city’s southwestern part, officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said.
Residents of six wards across Behala — wards 126, 127 and 128 — and Metiabruz — wards 139, 140 and 141 — are likely to benefit, KMC officials said.
There are many pockets in these wards that face water scarcity. The additional water supplied to the network from the two reservoirs is likely to provide adequate potable water to these pockets.
Besides, the water availability and pressure will increase in other parts of the wards.
The booster pumping station at Metiabruz will be inaugurated on Thursday and it will be commissioned on Friday.
The booster pumping station at Shakuntala Park will be inaugurated on Friday and it will be commissioned on Saturday, officials said.
Water from the Garden Reach water treatment plant will be supplied to both the semi-underground booster pumping stations-cum-reservoirs.
“A booster pumping station along with a reservoir has two functions. The volume of water stored in the reservoir adds to the volume of water that was already going into the network before the reservoir was commissioned. This increases the total volume of water available in that area,” said a KMC official.
“Secondly, the booster pumping station uses high-powered pumps to push the water in the reservoir for distribution. The additional thrust increases the pressure of water in the distribution network because of which more volume of water reaches pockets that received inadequate volume,” said the official.
The high pressure in the network also means that in other areas the flow of water through the tap is better than before.
The KMC had last year commissioned an additional 25 million gallon of water production every day at the Garden Reach Plant.
An augmentation of capacity of the Garden Reach plant was also planned.
The additional water produced in the plant is to be directed to new and upcoming booster pumping stations.
Last week, a similar booster pumping station-cum-reservoir of lesser capacity was inaugurated at Dhakuria’s Panchanantala in south Kolkata.
Inadequate water supply is a common problem that residents of many parts of Kolkata, especially in the southern suburbs, face during summer.
