Published On : Tue, Dec 18th, 2018

Kochchhi Barrage proves ‘Bane’ than ‘Boom’ for city water supply

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Nagpur: Its Unfortunate but its true !!! The under construction Kochchhi Barrage near Village Kochi near Khapa which is supposed to be a boon for Nagpur city in future has at present become a ‘bane’ for Nagpur city water supply.

The under construction Kochchhi Barrage of Vidharbha Irrigation Development Corporation (VIDC) is at 37 Km upstream of Kanhan WTP Intake well and has completely stopped the Kanhan river water. The kanhan river has become totally dry these days.

This is adversely affecting the continuous water supply in which are fed potable water from Kanhan feeder mains i.e the Eastern, Northern & Southern parts of the city. The Kochchhi project costing Rs947 crore is a barrage which is designed to store total 75 MMC of water , Out of total storage of Kochchhi barrage 57 MMC water is reserved for irrigation of 4,500 hectare. Also, it will cater to the needs of Mahagenco’s power stations.. It would reduce the burden on Pench reservoirs f because of which the city can get raw drinking water as per it’s demand. The VIDC plans to complete the project partly in July 2019 and fully by December 2019. Water can be stored after the partial completion but cannot be used unless the pipeline work is completed.

It may be mentioned here, On 27th Nov 2018, 1Mm3 water at controlled flow was released from Khekarnala reservoir gates. The river bed on the upstream part of the Kochchhi Barrage is at 299 m. The overflow level is at 302.5m. Therefore a substantial part of the water released was utilized in filling the catchment area of the Kochchhi Barrage.

As a result upto 14th December the raw water availability at Kanhan WTP Intake wells was normal and since 15th Dec around 20-30MLD less pumping is being done the Nagpur city from Kanhan Water Treatment Plant (WTP) .

Contrary to normal pumping of 185 to 190 MLD , the Clear water pumping from Kanhan on 14th Dec was 180MLD, on 15th Dec: 161 MLD , On 16th Dec: 162 MLD and on 17th Dec: 153 MLD. This is adversely affecting the continuous water supply in which are fed potable water from Kanhan feeder mains i.e the Eastern, Northern & Southern parts of the city.

On 15th Dec on demand of NMC again additional water was released by Khekra Naala Dam but till 17th Dec it did not reach the Kanhan Water works intake wells as most of the quantum of water is utilized in filling the Kochchhi Barrage. Ultimately very less or no water is reaching the Kanhan intake wells. This is a reoccurring process after every 10 days cycles. It is imperative that more quantum of water be released from Kochchhi Barrage to ensure normal availability of raw water at Kanhan Intake wells.

Water is let off into the Kanhan river only from three pipes with very less quantum