Thiruvananthapuram: The floating pumps to draw water out from Neyyar dam to Aruvikkara reservoir will arrive in the next 10 days and officials hope to begin the supply in two weeks. As per present calculations, there will be a requirement of around 1200 Million Litres of water from Neyyar to meet the supply. On good days, around 70 Million Litres per Day (MLD) were being drawn daily from Aruvikkara reservoir to meet the city’s requirements. The reservoir was replenished by Peppara dam daily. However, a shortfall has occurred due to the low level of water in Peppara dam.
Now, two floating pumps of 180 HP each are expected to pump water from Kappukad area to a raised platform. From here water will be brought through 800mm pipes for a distance of 1.5 km to Ayanikadavu canal. This canal which is around 7 km ends at a point on Karamana river a short distance upstream from Aruvikkara reservoir. KWA officials had removed vegetation and made the canal ready for draining water. Dredging for laying pipes is in progress. KSEB which had drawn a heavy duty line is in the process of installing two transformers to energise the pumps. More than a thousand million litres of water is expected to be lost as seepage and KWA will also come up with ways to minimise this loss.
