40 million gallons of extra potable water for south Kolkata high-rises

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is set to construct a water treatment plant at Garden Reach that will cater to safe drinking water demands from the high-rises in large parts of south Kolkata. The proposal for the construction of the plant was taken up last year after requests for potable water from high-rise residents staying in south Kolkata flooded the KMC headquarters. Most of the high-rises in south Kolkata do not have access to treated water from Garden Reach. They depend on groundwater.The proposed water treatment plant, with a capacity to produce 40 million gallons of water daily, will cater to the potable water needs of south Kolkata areas where residents still depend on tubewells, with a special focus on high-rises. According to an estimate, around 10 lakh people will benefit when the plant becomes operational.
Currently, the Garden Reach water works (having six independent plants) produce 210 million gallons of water daily. However, water produced here goes to major areas of south Kolkata and its suburban areas extending up to areas located off EM Bypass. Apart from this, the plant at Garden Reach supplies potable water to adjacent municipalities like Pujali and Maheshtala."The proposed 40 MGD plant was designed to cater to specific areas where residents depend on groundwater and high-rises that applied for safe drinking water," said a KMC water supply department official. The official added that the majority of the high-rises that applied for potable water from Garden Reach are located in Behala, Joka, Tollygunge, Jadavpur, Garia, Chetla, and Rashbehari Avenue, among others."We get filtered water, but we are heavily dependent on groundwater. We already applied for an extended ferrule from KMC. We were even willing to pay additional money. If the project materialises, it will be of real help to all of us," said Jyotirmoy Sinha Roy of Merlin Laurel Garden at Purba Barisha in Behala. The complex has 96 flats spread over six towers in three blocks.Sumanta Mitra, a resident of Genexx Valley, a 15-year-old complex in Joka that has 6,000 residents spread over 1,875 flats, said they are entirely dependent on groundwater and, even after years of pleading before the KMC and meeting minister Firhad Hakim, there was no solution to the acute water problem." If the project is completed, it will be of immense help to us," said Mitra.