Water treatment plant promises longevity to Cubbon Park

Water treatment plant promises longevity to Cubbon Park
Deccan Herald

The treated water will be supplied to government buildings for non-potable purposes.

Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) will commission its waste water treatment plant at Cubbon Park by the end of next month. With this, the picturesque park will remain lush green all through the year.

Built at the cost of Rs 3.95 crore, the treatment plant will be a boon to the Cubbon park. Due to inadequate supply of water, especially in summer months, the park used to turn dry. “In fact, number of sick trees in the park have died due to this reason,” sources in Horticulture department told Deccan Herald.

Horticulture department Director G K Vasant Kumar said that many plants and trees in the Cubbon Park used to go dry due to paucity of water, especially between January and May. Hence, the park used to wear a shabby and a less look attractive compared to Lalbagh, which has a lake as a natural source of water, he said.

Nearly 300 acres of Cubbon park on an average require 8 lakh litres of water every day for maintenance. During peak summer, the requirement goes up to over 9 lakh litres per day.

But with just seven borewells and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board supplying a mere 1.5 lakh litres per day, the water is scarce for the sprawling park, officials pointed out.

Water shortage

“We cannot afford to buy the required quantity of water from BWSSB. Of the existing borewells, only five are in good condition. So in places where borewell is not available in the park, water tankers are being used,” officials said.The treated water from the plant is also planned to be supplied to Vidhana Soudha, Raj Bhavan, High Court, Legislators’ Home, Bal Bhavan and Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA). The water can be used for all non-potable purposes in these places.

Currently, potable (drinking) water is being used in all these places, including Cubbon Park, for all non-potable purposes like gardening, cleaning and others. “It is not only waste of precious drinking water which is pumped from 100 kms afar, but Government departments are spending huge sums of money on clearing the water bill alone,” BDA Commissioner M N Vidyashankar told Deccan Herald. The hi-tech treatment plant has the capacity of 1.5 Million Litres per Day (15 lakh litres) and it is designed and constructed by Degremont India Limited. Taken up during September 2004, the work on it is now almost complete, he said.

BDA is shortly entering into an agreement with KSCA for supply of 2.5 lakh litres of treatment water every day, while nearly 9 lakh litres will be supplied to Cubbon park, including Vidhana Soudha, Raj Bhavan, LH, High Court and Bal Bhavan, he added.