Thirsty Berhampur to get 24x7 pipe water supply soon

This southern Odisha town in Ganjam district is all set to get round the clock pipe water supply in every household.

In the first phase, Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO), implementing the project, will provide 24X7 water supply to two zones, comprising Gandhi Nagar, Good-shed area, Patitapaban Nagar and Duduma Colony in Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) limits by the end of the current month, and entire city by July 2023, an official said.

Before the end of the current year, the residents of around 60 per cent of the corporation area will get round the clock water, said Biswabandhu Panigrahi, general manager, Watco, a state government-owned company's Berhampur division. There are around 60,000 households in the BeMC and around 80 million litres of water required per day to supply for round the clock. It would be possible due to the completion of the much-awaited Janibili water supply project, he said.

While the newly constructed Janibili project will provide around 43 mld (million litre per day), other two existing projects-Dakhinapur reservoir and Rushikulya water supply project, Kaliabali will supply 27 and 10 mld respectively, he said. "The work is going on in full swing with the replacement of the PVC pipelines and diverting the pipelines from the drains. Out of 31 pipelines identified in the drains, 11 have already been diverted so far," he said.

Panigrahi said they would hold a meeting with BeMC corporators soon to seek their cooperation to replace and divert the pipes. Besides, a dedicated power supply is being made for smooth supply of the drinking water. The company will also install three 625-kv power breakers at the Janibili project site and four 250-kv power breakers at the reservoir sites at Jagadalapur, near here for uninterrupted power supply to the city, he added.

"We thank Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for solving the nagging problem of the drinking water crisis in the city," said Berhampur, MP, Chandra Sekhar Sahu. He recalled that in 1997, when the city faced acute shortage of water a train containing water came to Berhampur to meet the demand of water during summer.

MLA (Berhampur) Bikram Kumar Panda said there was a time, not much ago, when the people of the different areas staged protests by holding pots in the city demanding for water, especially during summer. "Such protests have not been seen for the last three years-after implementation of the over Rs 500-crore Janibili project," he said.