Berhampur, Sept. 25: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today inaugurated a 20-million-litre a day water-treatment plant at Dakhinpur.

Built at a cost of Rs 7.27 crore, the project will supply drinking water to the city.

Naveen also laid foundation stones for two more drinking water projects.

The 20 million-litre-a-day (MLD) water treatment plant, a joint project of the state and Union governments, took more than two years to complete.

Water is treated with lime and ferric alum at the treatment plant after it passes through 10 slow sand filter beds.

Later, it is supplied to the public after adding chlorine. With the commissioning of this treatment plant, the city will now get 30MLD water from Dakhinpur.

“We were supplying 10MLD of water earlier,” said assistant engineer of the project Jayant Nayak. While Berhampur’s 3.70 lakh inhabitants require at least 50MLD water, they had to be content with 37MLD. The city will get 50MLD of water everyday from three sources — Dakhinpur (30MLD), Rushikulya (16MLD) and production wells (4MLD).

“The chief minister laid a foundation stone for another drinking water project at Utkal Ashram Road. The project will cost Rs 59.09 crore and include construction of 14 underground reservoirs and 17 elevated service reservoirs or overhead tanks and laying of a 208km-long pipeline.

“The project would help us provide 24-hour water supply to the entire city,” said a superintending engineer of the public health and engineering department.

The chief minister also laid a foundation stone for the construction of three elevated service reservoirs at Ankuli, Lanjipalli and Khodasingi. Berhampur became a municipality in 1867 under Madras Presidency and piped water supply facility was provided from Dakhinpur reservoir.

The British-era Dakhinpur reservoir, which is a major source of water for the city, was renovated recently. This has increased its water bearing capacity.