Kolkata: The citys water supply system did not collapse after the cyclone Amphan hit the city with an average wind speed of over 130 km per hour last Wednesday, it could not cause any damage to the century old overhead tank at Tala due to the timely advice of experts of Jadavpur University. "We had followed some basic preventive measures that was advised to us by our consultant Jadavpur University. All the four compartments of the century old Tala Tala tank, the oldest overhead tank in India were kept fully loaded with water. This increased the weight of the tank and it survived the cyclonic storm that lashed the city at a speed of over 120 km per hour," said a senior official of the Water Supply department of KMC. Almost 4 million gallons of water filled up the four chambers of the tank and added to its huge weight. Even after that engineers associated with maintenance of the tank had their hearts in the mouth when Amphan wreaked havoc in the city uprooting nearly 10,000 trees and some installations too. Another worry for the civic body was the foreign made hydraulic crane that was attached to the Tala tank with its restoration work going on. The fear of the heavy crane falling down had given sleepless nights to the officials of KMC. "We loosened the parts of the crane because if it would have remained in rigid condition the chances of it falling down due to the huge thrust of the wind would have increased. Luckily the idea worked and there has been no visible damage to the tank," the official said. He added that soon a test will be conducted at the micro level to assess any minor damage to the tank. Set up by the British in the year 1909, the KMC has taken up a major renovation of the age old tank in the year 2017. Three of the four compartments of the tank has already been thoroughly repaired. The work for renovation of the fourth compartment will be taken up after summer. The demand for water is on the higher side during summer and it has increased further due to the cleanliness and sanitizing associated with COVID-19 precautions. The water supply system in Kolkata was completed by the British in 1868. A lifting station was set up at Palta in north 24 parganas after 10 years to Sepoy Mutiny. It is the oldest water supply system in India.

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