Taps will not go dry in Ooty this summer

  • | Friday | 15th February, 2019

With the third water scheme of the Parsons Valley Hydel Reservoir completed, Ooty is unlikely to experience water scarcity in the coming days.At present, water level at the reservoir stood at 30 feet against its full capacity of 54 feet. The third water scheme has been implemented at the cost of Rs 32 crore.“Besides the original pipeline linked to the respective local reservoirs, a parallel pipeline linking domestic connections to Parsons Valley Reservoir has been fixed. The municipality has earmarked an area of 2.3 hectares at Marlimund as compensation to the forest department.“It took a decade to get the third scheme to Ooty though funds were sanctioned. A glad tiding for the residents of Ooty. Correlation of inter-departments is a must in implementing schemes,” L Ramakrishnan, a local resident, said.Under the first two schemes, around 100 lakh litres of water is supplied daily to Ooty and defence establishments in Wellington.

A glad tiding for the residents of Ooty. With the third water scheme of the Parsons Valley Hydel Reservoir completed, Ooty is unlikely to experience water scarcity in the coming days.At present, water level at the reservoir stood at 30 feet against its full capacity of 54 feet. The Nilgiris received 2,091mm of rainfall in 2018, above the average rainfall of 1,920mm.Ooty municipal engineer C Ravi said, “Water supply will not be a problem in this year’s summer season as we have adequate water level in Parsons Valley Hydel Reservoir.”There are 11 other reservoirs located in and around Ooty, supplying water to respective local areas. While localities under the schemes I and II of the Parsons Valley Hydel Reservoir get uninterrupted water supply, areas covered under the 11 reservoirs get water by tankers when the reservoirs go dry in summer.With the third water scheme in place, almost all the domestic water connections are being linked to Parsons Valley Hydel Reservoir. Hence, distribution of water will be uniform to all the residential areas. The third water scheme has been implemented at the cost of Rs 32 crore.“Besides the original pipeline linked to the respective local reservoirs, a parallel pipeline linking domestic connections to Parsons Valley Reservoir has been fixed. Once the local reservoir goes dry, water will be supplied from the new pipeline linked to Parsons Valley Reservoir,” the official said.At least 60% of the domestic water connections are already linked under schemes I and II of the Parsons Valley Reservoir.The first two schemes run through about 10.4km of forest land. The third pipeline will also run through the same land at a same distance.It took nearly a decade to complete the third scheme due to the delay in obtaining clearance from the forest department by the municipality.A lease agreement entered between the municipality and the forest department in 1986 (when the second scheme was implemented) for 25 years was not renewed by the municipality before the lapse of the agreement in 2011.The lease agreement included that the municipality should pay the cost of land to the forest department besides compensation of equal area of land and a fixed amount of annual rent to the department.Only in December 2013, the land transfer took place between the municipality and the forest department. The municipality has earmarked an area of 2.3 hectares at Marlimund as compensation to the forest department.“It took a decade to get the third scheme to Ooty though funds were sanctioned. Correlation of inter-departments is a must in implementing schemes,” L Ramakrishnan, a local resident, said.Under the first two schemes, around 100 lakh litres of water is supplied daily to Ooty and defence establishments in Wellington. The third scheme would give an additional 60 lakh litres, said the official.With a total of about 165-170 lakh litres of water per day, the requirements of Ooty with a population of about one lakh, its floating population and defence units can be met at least for another two decades, Ravi said.

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