Berhampur, June 3: Urban development minister Sarada Prasad Nayak today visited the site of the under-construction 20MLD (million litres per day) treatment plant at Dakhinpur reservoir to review the work in progress.

The 527.95 lakh project, which would help meet the drinking water shortage in the Silk City, is scheduled to be completed by August this year.

The minister expressed satisfaction on the progress of the construction of the treatment plant. “Chief minister Naveen Patnaik is interested to resolve the water crisis here and we are in the process to streamline water supply for the next 50 years,” Nayak said.

The minister was accompanied by Berhampur MLA Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik, Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BMC) mayor Siba Shankar Das, BMC commissioner Bhim Manseth, Berhampur PH division executive engineer Debasunder Mohapatra and others.

“While Berhampur’s 4.50 lakh inhabitants require at least 50 MLD, they have to remain content with 37 MLD. Thus, there is a shortage of 13 MLD of water. The completion of the treatment plant at Dakhinpur reservoir site would definitely fulfil the requirements of 13 MLD shortage of water at present. The Silk City gets its drinking water from two main sources including the Rushikulya Joint Water Supply Scheme and the century-old Dakhinpur impounding reservoir. Approximately 16 MLD of water is being supplied to Berhampur town from the Rushikulya project and the Dakhinpur impounding reservoir supplies 17 MLD water. From the 30 odd large wells, the city also draws an additional 4 MLD water,” Debasunder Mohapatra said.

The construction of a 20 MLD treatment plant at the Dakhinpur reservoir site is scheduled to be completed in August,” he said.

“PHED is supplying drinking water to the problem-ridden localities in 44 tankers of different sizes. There are 1,158 hand pumps in 37 wards of the Berhampur Municipal Corporation which are functioning and we have decided to provide 74 more hand pumps (two in each ward),” the executive engineer said.

As the taps in the city go dry, serpentine queues before the water tankers and public stand posts have become a common sight on the streets. Wells and ponds have dried up as ground water levels have dipped further. The non-availability of sufficient water through domestic pipelines to thousands of consumers in most areas, is a major woe for the residents.

Water supply in the city begun for the first time in 1905 with a capacity of 2.724 MLD for a population of 30,000. It was augmented in 1961 to 9.08 MLD. That was further upgraded through the Rushikulya Joint Water Supply System during the eighties. Water supply to Berhampur town was taken over by the PHED from Berhampur municipality on August 1, 1986.

There are two reservoirs at Dakhinpur covering areas of 40 and 70 acres of land respectively. The reservoirs are fed from Sorada reservoir by one open canal.