Purushothapatnam lift irrigation scheme to mitigate water woes

Visakhapatnam: The water woes of city would be addressed when the Purushothapatnam lift irrigation scheme on the Godavari, which recently got administrative proposals, is complete. The proposals include supplying about 23 tmc ft of water to the city to meet the growing industrial and domestic water needs. Despite the GVMC working out various methods, many residents still receive water on alternate days during the summer. Several industries were operated at reduced capacity due to the shortage of water during summer, including the Vizag Steel Plant.

The Yeleru reservoir, which supplies most of the water to the city, has not reached its full level in years. As part of the Purushothapatnam scheme, about 10 pump sets, each having a capacity of 350 cusecs, would be installed on the Godavari to divert about 3,500 cusecs to the Polavaram left canal and thereafter to the Yeleru reservoir and the city. The city needs 85 million gallons-a-day, and there is a deficit of 20 MGD round the year. This increases to about 55 MGD in the summer.

As per the estimates, the city would need more than 150 MGD of water by 2030.  The PLIS is proposed to meet the demand. PLIS Visakhapatnam division executive engineer P.V. Tirupati Rao said the Rs 1,638-crore project had recently got administrative approvals from the state government. “The PLIS would help fill the Yeleru project to end the water woes of Visakhapatnam,” he added.  As per the irrigation department officials, the project is expected to supply water to about 1.6 lakh hectares in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts.