The Maradu Water Treatment Plant is set to add 20 MLD to Kochi’s water supply

Water supply to several houses in Perandoor area was interrupted after a KWA pipeline broke on Edappally Raghavan Pillai Road in Elamakkara on Tuesday evening. | Photo credit: RK Nithin

As water scarcity continues to affect several parts of Kochi, efforts are underway to bring in an additional 20 MLD (million liters per day) of water from the Maradu Water Treatment Plant (WTP).

The rehabilitation work carried out by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) at the Maradu WTP will increase the plant’s production capacity and make additional water available to Maradu and Kumbalam, Kumbalangi and Chellanam panchayats and West Kochi area, according to officials.

The project involves bringing in more water from the raw water pumping station at Pazhoor, KWA sources said.

The renovation project, which is being financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is expected to be completed in a year. The project received financial sanction and is now awaiting administrative sanction.

“The current production capacity of the plant is 100 MLD. We aim to increase it to 120 MLD,” sources said.

One of the major constraints faced by the company is its inability to bring the entire volume of water from the raw water pumping station at Pazhoor to Marad. “This is because the diameter of the pipes carrying the water on the Malekkad to Maradu section is small. They include two HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) pipes of 800 mm diameter that pass through the return waters. Because of this, there is a limitation in the carrying capacity of the pipes. Our production capacity is therefore limited to 100 additional water flows, which we are trying to address with this new MLD pipeline. source. For this, a new 1000 mm HDPE pipe will be laid in length of 5.2 kilometers.

Another work is the replacement of filter beds at the sewage treatment plant. There are currently 16 filter beds, eight of which have already been changed to double-layer filter media. The remaining eight filter beds will also be changed to a double layer filter media type.

“With this, we can increase production because the filtration rate will be faster, resulting in cleaner water,” the source said. Along with this, one of the old pump sets will be replaced at Pazhoor to improve production.

Supply interrupted

Meanwhile, water supply to several houses in Perandoor, Elamakkara and Punnakkal areas was disrupted after a KWA pipeline burst on Edappally Raghavan Pillai Road in Perandoor, Elamakkar on Tuesday evening.

Hundreds of homes were affected by the burst pipe, said Seena Gokulan, councilor for Division 27. She said temporary repairs had been made. “Pumping has been restored but it requires a permanent solution and more work needs to be done. This will have to be done without affecting pumping to these areas,” Ms Gokulan said.

According to her, the pipe burst after a private individual tried to lay an underground cable, with the drilling work leading to the bursting of the water pipe in four places.

A KWA source said work to permanently fix the problem would be carried out on Wednesday evening without affecting pumping.

Published – 16 Sep 2026 20:24 IST