It seems that the new Cauvery project will not be alleviating the city’s water woes anytime soon. Slow work on pump house and water treatment plants is slowing down the progress of project. The BWSSB, however, has not yet officially revised the date of commissioning of the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme Stage IV Phase II. After the project missed its March deadline, BWSSB Minister Mr Suresh Kumar announced in the Assembly that it would be commissioned in June.
“Work on laying pipelines is going on smoothly and is 96 per cent complete. Out of the total 172 km, around 165 km has been laid; but the work on the pump house and water treatment plants is rather slow. Until this work picks up pace, we cannot expect a timely completion. The 500 MLD water treatment plant at TK Halli is less than 80% complete,” said a BWSSB official.
Work picked up a little pace after Mr Kumar expressed disappointment during his inspection and set April 30 deadline to complete works. The deadline was set considering that tests and trials need to be conducted before water supply starts, which was expected in June. BWSSB was hoping that it could start tests and trials after completing the project in May but has now rescheduled the tests to June.
“We were hoping to start tests and trials in May and partially (200 out of 500 MLD) commission the project in June. Now, it does not look like the tests will start before June. We could still hope for commissioning in June but nothing can be said with certainty,” the official added. On the official revision of the June deadline for commissioning the project, Chief Engineer (Kaveri), BWSSB, Mr Narayan, said: “We still hope to partially commission the project by June end. All the pipeline laying work would be completed by May end. We cannot commit to a deadline on water treatment plants and the pump house work but we are repeatedly insisting to the contractors that work should be completed to facilitate partial commissioning by June end.”
Earlier, shortage of labourers, a lorry strike and shortage of sand had delayed the work on the CWSS Stage IV Phase II.