'Wet-well units to reduce water-logging in Mangalore'

Speaking to media persons on the occasion, Mr. Lobo said that channelization of sewage water and overflow of water during rains was a problem in the past. With new wet well units coming into the picture, effective channelization of sewage water will be achieved and the problem of water logging in different areas of the city is likely to reduce considerably, he said.

M Yashwanth Raj, Executive Engineer in-charge, KUDCEMP, said that drainage water from Berebail, KMC, KSRTC, etc will come to the newly inaugurated sewage wet well at Kodialbail from where it would be pumped to Kavoor sewage treatment plant en-route the Kudroli wet well. From Kavoor treatment plant, the sewage water would be pumped to the tertiary treatment planned owned by MSEZ Ltd. The company will use the recycled water for its industrial needs while the waste filtered out will be used as manure, Mr. Raj said.

70% of the maintenance cost of these wet wells will be bore by MSEZ Ltd, while Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) will take care of the remaining 30%. In all, there are 22 wet wells in the city to go with 4 Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) of 43.5 MLT, 20 MLT, 60.5 MLT, and 8.75 MLT capacities at Kavoor, Bajal, Surathkal and Pachanady respectively. The system encompasses 355 kms of underground drainage network. The total cost of the project has come up to Rs. 214 crores, Mr. Raj informed.

The wet wells are equipped with 2 pumps of 75 HP (Horse Power) pumping capacity, of which one is active and the other is standby. The pumps are operated by auto censor and pumping of water begins automatically once a certain limit of sewage water accumulated at the unit is reached. There is lesser manpower involved in this pumping operation.