The Hindu         20.11.2014 

Demand for drinking water in Mysuru outstrips availability

With the demand for drinking water in Mysuru outstripping availability, civic authorities are planning to give a fresh push to the proposed water supply project at KRS backwaters, which is expected to bring an additional 300 million litres per day (MLD) of water.

A proposal to implement the Rs. 320-crore project at Hale Unduwadi village, about two km from KRS dam, has been prepared and forwarded by the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board (KUWSSB) to the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), the nodal agency for the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

A meeting of officials from Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW) convened by Mayor R. Lingappa recently decided to urge the State government to forward the project to the Centre for approval under JNNURM. “The project should be implemented either by the Centre under JNNURM or by the State government,” he said.

VVWW Executive Engineer Jayaram said the drinking water presently available is barely able to meet the demands of residents in the limits of Mysore City Corporation. “We are unable to provide water to residents of the new areas added by MUDA,” he said.

He said the proposed project, supplemented by existing drinking water projects, can take care of all areas coming under Mysore-Nanjangudu Local Area Development Plan. The site for the proposed project at KRS backwaters has water 365 days of the year and does not go dry even when the reservoir does, VVWW officials said, adding that the pipeline from Hale Unduwadi to the city can also provide water to about 92 villages enroute.

Referring to the new layouts, which had either already come up or were in different stages of development, Mr. Jayaram said the demand for drinking water is expected to shoot up sharply in the coming days. “We are able to provide water to connections only within the Outer Ring Road (ORR). We are not able to meet the demand for water from people residing in layouts outside the ORR,” a VVWW official conceded. The project envisages construction of a jackwell at Hale Undawadi, 2 km upstream of the KRS reservoir; and a water treatment plant at Beechanakuppe, about 4 km away. The project also requires acquisition of about 167 acres of land, officials added.