Layers of sludge in water tanks, supply to be hit

Vadodara: Thanks to the dismal maintenance of the Nimeta water treatment plant, citizens will continue to suffer for the next couple of days as the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) takes up work on the cleaning of sumps of the tanks that were supplied water from the plant.
The work on cleaning of such tanks will begin on Wednesday.
The supply of turbid water that was also yellowish in colour led to deposition of sludge in the sumps of water tanks across the eastern and western parts of the city. These parts were being supplied water from the Ajwa reservoir after filtering it at the Nimeta plant.
The VMC began the process of cleaning these tanks on Tuesday. Work on the Sayajipura water tank began on Tuesday and water was not provided from the tank on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, work will be taken up on Tarsali, Makarpura air force booster and Manjalpur water tanks. The water supply on Wednesday evening will be affected at all these tanks.
Work on the Jambuva and Makarpura booster water tanks will be taken up on Thursday. According to the VMC, water supply will be affected on the evening of the day when the work is conducted. On the next day water supply will resume, but with a low pressure.
Sources said that the turbidity of water supplied from Nimeta plant was reducing gradually. Given the improvement, it was possible to take up cleaning of the tanks without risking sludge getting deposited in the sumps again.
BJP councillor writes to CM
Vadodara: While the issue of supply of turbid and yellow water may have created a major furore since last month, the issue had been raised by a Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) councillor of the ruling BJP in 2017.
Vijay Pawar, councillor from the Walled City area, had visited the Ajwa reservoir and Nimeta water treatment plant on October 21, 2017. He said that he did so after several areas in the Walled City started receiving yellowish and turbid water.
After the visit, Pawar shot a letter to the VMC commissioner stating that the water was dirty and algae had grown in the pond. He had also pointed out that the filtration plant was not being attended to properly. “The attendance there was also far short of what it should have been,” Pawar said.
Pawar has now written a letter to chief minister Vijay Rupani regarding water and sewage issues in the city. “I have suggested that these key departments should not be outsourced and the VMC should take are of them,” he said.