HYDERABAD: The Government of Andhra Pradesh has launched an ambitious project to provide drinking water to every household in the state by 2022. The project aims to provide 1418.49 million liters of water daily to about 110 urban local bodies in the state.
P Ramachandra Reddy, Minister of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development said that the statewide water grid project would ensure supply of clean drinking water to every household from 2022 for at least the next 30 years.
Under the proposed plan, drinking water will be supplied to 46,982 rural areas and 99 urban area habitations. The water grid system built under the project will use water from rivers and canals which would be sent to reservoirs before sending it to the households.
Botsa Satyanarayana, Minister of Municipal Administration and Urban Development said that the groundwater level in places like Anantapur, Chittoor, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram is stoop so low. “There is an immediate need to augment water supply in many of the districts. The groundwater in Godavari districts is getting polluted due to aquaculture too. The government plans to lay a massive network of pipelines all over the state to supply clean drinking water,’’ he said.
“Supply of water through tankers has been significantly increased in Kadapa, Chittoor, Nellore, Anantapur and Prakasam districts. The number of habitations that receive water through tankers has increased from 591 in 2011 to 6,267 habitations in 2019. Kadapa and Nellore districts face severe shortage of drinking water in the summer season. So, we have come up with this water grid plan,’’ he added.
The estimated cost of the project is Rs 46,675 crores out of which Rs 37,474 crore will be invested in the first phase and Rs 9,200 crore is going to be used in second phase. According to the officials to kick start the project a loan of Rs 2500 from Aisan Development Bank have been sanctioned. The state government has decided to use Jal Jeevan and MGNREGS schemes to execute the project.