A new Ganga water treatment plant with a capacity of 50 cusecs is scheduled to commence operations at Pratap Vihar in March. This will provide water to approximately 600,000-700,000 residents of Ghaziabad and Noida.
The plant, which has been built at a cost of ₹304 crore, was set to begin operations at the end of 2021 but got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At least 75% of water from the plant will be supplied to Noida and the rest to Ghaziabad’s Siddharth Vihar scheme, said officials of Construction and Design Services, a unit of Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam.
“The plant is likely to commence operations by the end of March and before the approaching summer season. In Noida, the plant will cater to different sectors like 133,134, 122 and 135, among others,” said Unmesh Shukla, executive engineer of Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam.
Besides this plant, there are two water treatment plants in Ghaziabad’s Pratap Vihar. One plant, commissioned in 2003, is of 50cusecs capacity and supplies 60% of its water to Ghaziabad and 40% to Noida. The other plant, commissioned in 2015, is of 100cusecs capacity and it supplies 80% of its water to Noida and the rest to Ghaziabad.
“Once the new plant becomes operational, at least 2.7-2.8million people in Ghaziabad and Noida will get water supply from all three plants,” Shukla added.
All the three plants get water from the Upper Ganga Canal near Masuri through pipelines laid on both sides of National Highway 9.
Officials said the water from the plants conforms to IS 10500 norms and the total dissolved solids value of treated water are in the 120-200 mg/litres range, which is safe for drinking purposes.
Meanwhile, the 100cusecs plant developed a snag on Wednesday morning and had to be shut for repairs. “This affected water supply but we have fixed it. Regular supply will resume from Friday morning,” Shukla said.
