india

Updated: Jul 10, 2019 23:46 IST

Rail water tankers could reach Chennai in a day or two after the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD) successfully conducted a test run of pumping Cauvery water from Mettusakkarakkuppam underground storage tank to scour valve- pipelines with valves to flush water in wagons - near Jolarpet railway yard on Wednesday, sources said.

A pipeline has been laid for 3.5 km between Mettusakkarasakuppam underground storage tank and to Parsampet where the scour valves are located, about a few hundred meters from Jolarpet railway yard. Jolarpet is 213 km away from Chennai which is reeling under one of the worst water shortages.

Water will be transferred to wagons from the 50 scour valves through the existing pipelines. For this, a rake of 50 tankers has been brought from Rajasthan to Jolarpet on Tuesday to take water to Chennai, sources said.

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“We can bring 4,200 litres of water per minute from Mettusakkarakuppam to scour valve and the system is working well. The underground storage tank has a capacity to store 5 lakh litres of water. Water is being brought from Vellore combined drinking water project – a system to bring water from Cauvery river. So, trains will take water from Jolarpet to Chennai in a day or two,” a senior TWAD board official said.

While announcing the project, chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami had said it was intended to bring 10 million litres per day for six months from Jolarpet to a water storage facility at Villivakkam in Chennai. The government has allocated Rs.65 crore for this project.

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“Since 50 tankers can carry only 2.5 million litres of water, the train will make four trips per day to quench Chennai’s thirst,” sources added.