RSP to face tough time ahead to meet water need

ROURKELA: With Koel river starting to dry up, the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) will face a tough time to supply adequate drinking water to its industrial township in the coming summer. Residents of the Rourkela Industrial Township (RIT) and the RSP management were stung with the unprecedented drinking water crisis in 2016 after the river completely dried up leaving the plant’s intake well and the Hill Top Water Purification Plant (HTWPP) at Sector-20 fully defunct.

Sources informed that the HTWPP, which draws water from, Koel meets 70 per cent needs of the RIT, while the rest demand is met by the Brahwani Water Works (BWW) located 5.7 kms away at Sector-8 after receiving waste from the Tarkera Pump House (TPH) at Tarkera. The TPH draws water from Brahmani river.An RSP statement in August 2017 claimed that it had completed the biggest water supply infrastructure addition project after 1995 at multiple locations to remove summer water woes. 

RSP insiders said before August 2017, the RSP was crippled as the HTWPP was not connected with the BWW which has assured water supply through the TPH from RSP’s Mandira Dam. Accordingly, the HTWPP was connected with BWW by laying a 5.7-mm long pipeline of 800 mm diameter at a cost of ` eight crore. 

A new booster pump house was also constructed and four Booster Pumps each of 3 Million Gallon per Day (MGD) capacity have been installed at the BWW. Similarly, a mega pump of 6.6 MGD has been provided to the TPH and another of the same capacity is proposed for the TPH.During peak summer, the demand of RIT limit hovers between 15 and 18 MGD. If Koel river dries up and the HTWPP is rendered defunct, the TPH is not yet fully equipped to fight the situation, the sources claimed.

They pointed out that even if the new mega pump of 6 MGD and two existing old pumps are run at full-load, the TPH can supply 11.5 to 12 MGD which is far less than the required need of 15 to 18 MGD.
General secretary of BMS-affiliated Rourkela Ispat Karkhana Karmachari Sangh (RIKKS) HS Bal said the management has assured to provide water to RIT limits two times a day failing which the RSP would face the wrath of the residents.