Tender to up water storage floated for Chandigarh

Sandeep Rana
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 9

Residents can hope to get a respite from frequent water supply breakdowns as the Municipal Corporation today floated a tender for doubling the city’s water storage capacity.

Tender bids will be opened in a week and a suitable firm will be finalised. The process of awarding the work to a company will be completed in a month. Following this, the work will start with a two-month deadline.

The water storage capacity will be upgraded from the present 45 million gallons per day (MGD) to 90 MGD at the Sector 39 waterworks reservoir. It receives supply from the Kajauli waterworks.

At present, the waterworks has only half-day underground water storage capacity. Its capacity is inadequate and the water stored in the morning is supplied in the evening, while the evening storage is supplied in the morning.

It has caused frequent “low or no water supply” in the city. Thus, during any leakage in the pipeline from Kajauli to Chandigarh, the city witnesses severe water crisis as the Sector 39 reservoir runs out of water. Normally, there is a demand of 90-95 MGD of water per day. In summer, it rises to 120-125 MGD. Chandigarh has a water availability of 120 MGD.

In February, the MC House had okayed Rs37 crore to upgrade the water storage capacity.