22-05-2025
PMC to construct new water treatment plan at Vadgaon Budruk under AMRUT 2.0 to meet increased demand
To cater to the increasing demand for treated water in Pune city, which is witnessing rapid urbanisation, the civic body will construct a new water treatment plant at Vadgaon Budruk under the AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation ) 2.0 programme.
'The Union government has approved the proposed 125-MLD water treatment plant of the Pune Municipal Corporation at Vadgaon Budruk. The project will be funded by the Union government under the AMRUT 2.0 programme,' said Nandkishor Jagtap, in charge of the PMC's water supply department. The project is estimated to cost Rs 188 crore.
Jagtap said the PMC also wanted to construct a water treatment plant at Khadakwasla to meet the demand in villages that were added to the civic body's limits recently. Incidentally, a few of these villages were provided untreated water from the dam, resulting in the spread of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in parts of Pune city later this year.
'The land for the water treatment plant was available at Vadgaon Budruk, so a proposal was sent to the Union government for including it in AMRUT 2.0, which has been done now,' said Jagtap.
As per the equitable water supply plan, the old part of Pune city has been divided into five parts, considering the capacity of the water treatment plants (WTP) and the potential population they will serve in 2047. These five parts are Parvati WTP, Bhama Askhed WTP, Warje and Holkar WTP, Lashkar WTP, and Vadgaon WTP.
At present in Vadgaon, there are two water treatment plants with a total capacity of 250 MLD, catering to the needs of some parts of the proposed 32 zones and five newly added villages–Yewalieadi, Ambegaon Budruk, Ambegaon Khurd, Dhayari and Undri. The newly merged villages have increased the overall water demand in the city.
The Parvati water treatment plant caters to six of the 33 zones. It has completed 53 years of service. As per central government guidelines for 24×7 projects, the service life of a water treatment plant is 30 years. There is also a large amount of leakage in the Parvati plant.
'The new WTP at Vadgaon will enable handling increased water needs and meet the requirements if the Parvati WTP's operation is scaled down. The total raw water available at Vadgaon will be 125 MLD out of 380 MLD. The remaining 255 MLD will be treated at the Parvati WTP,' said a civic officer of the water supply department.
The PMC will demolish the pump house in Vadgaon, which is 17 years old and has been unused for a long time. It has insufficient pumping capacity and a dilapidated and sinking sump well with heavy leakages.
Thus, the civic body will construct a raw water pumping station, raw water rising main pipe system, water treatment plant, pure water pumping station, and a pure water pumping main pipe system.
Ajay Jadhav is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, Pune. He writes on Infrastructure, Politics, Civic issues, Sustainable Development and related stuff. He is a trekker and a sports enthusiast.
Ajay has written research articles on the Conservancy staff that created a nationwide impact in framing policy to improve the condition of workers handling waste.
Ajay has been consistently writing on politics and infrastructure. He brought to light the lack of basic infrastructure of school and hospital in the hometown of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde even as two private helipads were developed by the leader who mostly commutes from Mumbai to Satara in helicopter.
Ajay has been reporting on sustainable development initiatives that protects the environment while ensuring infrastructure development. ... Read More
