KOCHI: When most parts of the district are reeling under acute water scarcity, alternative proposals to bring additional drinking water to parched areas still remain on paper. The district administration’s plan to draw water from abandoned granite quarries failed to materialise.
The pilot project at the granite quarry at Ambalappara near Kakkanad was estimated to cost rupees 33 lakh, and was initiated when the water situation was grim last summer.
The project was to be commissioned in three months, but has been delayed for several reasons.
Tenders were floated and three companies submitted bids. They proposed different technologies for purifying the quarry water. Later, a technical committee was constituted to identify a suitable technology for water purification. The state government sanctioned only '11 lakh for the project under the river management fund, but the total project cost was much higher.
Sources in the district administration said that the project has not been dropped and will be commissioned soon. The plan was to purify 5,000 litres of water per hour with a total daily production capacity of 30,000 litres. The 14-acre Ambalappara quarry holds a huge volume of water, enough to fulfil the drinking water requirements of several thousand families. Water is available throughout the year.
The district administration had decided to set up the water treatment plant in the quarry after a study conducted by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board found that water in granite quarries could be used for drinking after treatment.
