JOIN USStrainer search at reservoir
Despite attempts made by the divers to find the third strainer of the pump house in Hemavathi reservoir, success has still eluded them.
Meanwhile, a difference in opinion between ‘Seagull Diving’, the firm conducting diving operations to find the strainer and City Municipal Council (CMC) has cast aspersions on the continuity of the programme. Divers have threatened to suspend the work, demanding advance payment and work orders for the operations, before Wednesday (February 6).
There are three strainers in the Hemavathi pump house, at different water levels of the reservoir. First strainer is engaged to draw water when the reservoir is full, while the second is on the job when water level reaches 40 feet below the full capacity of the reservoir. But, since the water level has dropped below the second strainer, third strainer has to be deployed to draw and supply drinking water.
However, the third strainer is yet to be found. It is 14 metres below the second strainer and is at a distance of 200 metres from the pump house. But, CMC does not know the direction in which the strainer is located, thus delaying the search operations, complained the team of divers.
“The strainers filled with silt remain to be cleaned from the past three decades. We have been working here from the past 32 days and have removed six loads of silt. Engineers of CMC are not co-operating in the search,” they complained.
They have issued oral order to clean the third strainer. Searching inside the water is a risky job, which necessitates the diver/s to be covered with insurance before doing any such activities. Without work order, insurance cannot be done. We had agreed to search the third strainer and clean it at a cost of Rs 9.85 lakh. But, not even the advance amount has been paid. There is not even a map of the pumping station and strainers with CMC, they said.
However, CMC commissioner Nagabushan has dismissed the allegations made by the seagull diving team. “Our engineers know where the strainers are. They are monitoring the diving operations. Seagull diving company is working from the past one month, but their work has been not satisfactory, due to which they were not issued with a work order,” he said.
He said that the company did not have the proper rigs to be used in such operations. CMC will order a rig to assist in the search and rescue operations. We fill find the strainer in the next three days, he assured. Currently, water is being pumped from the third strainer to Hassan.
Two 125 hp pumps is being used for the process. Officials at the pump house observed that rate of pumping water would increase, if the strainer is cleaned and the other machinery of the pump house repaired.
Engineers at the dam assured that there will not be a drinking water problem for Hassan during summer. There was 6.76 TMC of water left in the reservoir, while the city requires a maximum of two TMC per year to meet the drinking water supply demand, they said.