Ponda: The department of drinking water (DDW) is mulling to upgrade the existing 40MLD water treatment plant at Opa to 60MLD to boost supply to Tiswadi, Marcaim and Priol by spending Rs 29 crore to add new facilities.Technical sanction for the proposed upgradation has already been given and the project is presently pending for administrative approval, said chief engineer of DDW, Vishwambar Bhende.The project is being planned chiefly to boost the water supply to Panaji. Once commissioned, the water supply from entire the Tiswadi taluka and Marcaim, Priol and surrounding villages from Ponda taluka will be enhanced, Bhende said.The DDW has recently completed a project at Opa to boost the water supply to Panaji, under which intake wells, an additional pump house with six centrifugal pumps with a capacity of fetching 20 MLD of water each, a 1,500 cubic metre (CuM) sump, a 300CuM ground level reservoir (GLR), and two master balancing reservoirs of 2,500 litres each on the Curti hill, have already been constructed.Under the proposed upgradation project, an additional floculator, an aerator, a chlorination tank, a chlorine room and four filter beds will be constructed. However, the smart city pumping station will be used for the upgraded project since the pumping station is attached to the 40 MLD existing water treatment plant, said Bhende.The new project will be attached to the existing 40 MLD water treatment plant that has three VT pumps of 875 kW and 1200 HP capacity, but they cannot be repaired at Opa. However, the new pumping house has six centrifugal pumps with a capacity to draw 20 MLD of water through each pump. The 300CuM GLR would serve as the priming tank. The pumps need water while restarting and the GLR water is used for that.
