Posted on January 29, 2019
Visakhapatnam: The Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply Company (VIWSCO), a subsidiary of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), is planning to procure an amphibian vehicle for desilting and dredging of the Yeleru canal.
The canal from Yeleru reservoir to the city, spanning over 153 kilometres, is the major drinking water source for the city. The silt in the Yeleru canal that has accumulated over the years has compromised its capacity by about 50%. It holds 350-400 cusecs of water from its original capacity of 700 cusecs.
With the falling water levels in other reservoirs this year, that supply water to the city, the GVMC cannot close the canal for a month or two to desilt it. Rather, the only hope ahead of the GVMC is the brimming Yeleru reservoir, which has about 20 TMC water as of date.
A team of GVMC officials visited Chennai a few weeks ago to study the working mechanism of the amphibian vehicles acquired by the Greater Chennai Corporation. GVMC officials estimate that the amphibian vehicle, which works on running water, may cost them about Rs 10-Rs 12 crore. The vehicle can be deployed for desilting purposes of other reservoirs and the city’s stormwater drains to deepen the water bodies.
It has often been a monumental task for the city’s sanitary staff to dredge and deweed the stormwater drains given the volume of the accumulated sediment, dead vegetation, etc. underneath the drains.
An official from the GVMC water supply wing said the open (Yeleru) canal has more silt in the deep cut reaches and it is overgrown with vegetation and weed. “The dredging, desilting and deweeding work at the canal is the need of hour. Moreover, it has to be done in running water as we cannot close the canal now. Water is also being pumped into the Meghadrigedda reservoir from the Yeleru left main canal, through old Raiwada pumping main. With this, water levels in Meghadrigedda are expected to sustain the city till July 2019,” said the official.
The last time GVMC closed the Yeleru canal was in 2017. It had closed it for a month to carry out desiltation work.
Source: The TImes Of India
