Cauvery drinking water project to be completed soon.

The Rs. 784-crore Cauvery joint drinking water project will be completed by the end of this summer, said local minister Sellur K Raju. Raju, along with state minister for municipal administrations and prisons, S P Velumani inspected the drinking water project in the district. The project aims to fulfill the drinking water needs of three municipalities, six town panchayats and eight panchayat unions in Madurai district and one town panchayat in Sivaganga district.

Addressing reporters after the inspection, minister Velumani said the state government had decided to harness water from Cauvery river since Vaigai river, the sole drinking water source of Madurai district, was not perennial and dried out during summer.

Under the joint drinking water scheme, three wells were created on Cauvery riverbed at Mettu Mahadhanapuram near Kurithalai in Karur district. Using high power pumps, 36.55 lakh litres will be drawn from these wells and stored in sumps. From there, water will be pumped into another sump of the same capacity at Kottaiyur, using pipes extending over a length of 100.73km. From this point, water will be pumped to 332 smaller sumps and 1,590 overhead tanks (out of which 78 are under construction) with the help of a 268.96km major pipeline and a network of 2154.26km pipelines. In addition to the existing distribution pipelines extending over 2468.07km, another 71.59km pipeline will be added, minister said.

Sellur K Raju added that the project would benefit 12.42 lakh people at present, 13.94 lakh people by 2027 and 15.92 lakh people (the maximum capacity of the project) by the year 2042. There are plans to distribute as much as 84 million litres per day (MLD) by 2042, he said.

He added that they were planning to complete the project by the end of summer. District collector, L Subramanian was present during the inspection.

TOI