Water Disinfection Test Completed in Melamchi Project. Image Source: The Himalayan Times

Water Disinfection Test Completed in Melamchi Project

Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP) has completed the required 168-hour water disinfection test at Sundarijal-based water treatment plant. The Melamchi Project had imported chlorine gas from India two weeks ago for the testing purpose.

Ramakanta Duwadi, Deputy Executive Director at Melamchi Water Supply Development Board said with the completion of wastewater disinfection process, all tests required for full-fledged operation of the treatment plant had been completed.

“As part of the process, 25 to 30 million liters’ of water was purified using chlorine gas per day. So the treatment plant is now ready for disinfecting water from the Melamchi River anytime the project starts operation,” said DED Duwadi, adding, “After completing disinfection test yesterday, Japanese consultant NJS has begun the process of handing over the plant to MWSP.”

Chlorine is a highly efficient disinfectant and is added to public water supplies to kill disease-causing pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, and protozoans that commonly grow in water supply reservoirs, on the walls of water mains and in storage tanks.

The Melamchi project had started test operation of the treatment plant during monsoon by using water from the Bagmati River. However, it had to dump the treated water back into the Bagmati River due to defect in the water supply channels.

According to the Melamchi project, it had planned to distribute treated water through water supply pipelines. However, this could not be possible due to technical defects in the pipelines installed by the Project Implementation Directorate at Bhairabchaur Danda of Gokarneshwor Municipality -4. The damaged pipeline has yet to be repaired.

Due to a defect in the pipeline system, the board had temporarily halted test operation of the treatment plant. The plant has the capacity of treating 85 million liters of water per day.

The water treatment plant will treat water to potable standards. Upstream of the treatment plant is the Melamchi Diversion Scheme and downstream of the WTP is the Bulk Distribution system.

A joint venture of VA Tech Wabag Limited and Indian firm Pratibha Industries Limited had won the Rs 4.2 billion contract to construct the water treatment plant in 2014 and completed the treatment plant in mid-September this year.

 

Reference: The Himalayan Times