Jalandhar: 7 villages will soon get treated water for irrigation

Jalandhar: Farmers of seven villages of the district will soon start getting treated water from the sewage treatment plant set up at Basti Peer Dad for irrigation of their agricultural land. Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal said work on the project costing Rs 7.10 crore was progressing at a fast pace. “Once completed, it will provide irrigation facility to around 550 hectares of agricultural land of these villages,” he said. Aggarwal said the project was being implemented by the Soil and Water Conservation Department under the Jalandhar Smart City Project. He said the project involved laying a total of 20 km of underground pipeline, of which 17 km had already been completed. The Deputy Commissioner said the treated water from the sewage treatment plant at Basti Peer Dad would be supplied to the fields through underground pipes and pump sets having a discharge capacity of 72 litres per second. He said 80 per cent of the project work has been completed and would be completed by the end of October, benefiting farmers of Basti Peer Dad, Gill, Chamiara, Sangal Sohal, Safipur, Gakhla and Katlupur villages. The Deputy Commissioner said the project would not only save groundwater but also reduce farmers’ expenditure on diesel for running tubewells. He said such alternative irrigation sources could significantly help prevent further depletion of groundwater levels. Lupinder Kumar, Sub-Divisional Soil Conservation Officer, Soil and Water Conservation Department Punjab, said to maintain the treated water within safe parameters for irrigation, the system would be equipped with monitoring devices. The project would save 30 to 40 per cent of groundwater in the area, reducing farmers’ dependence on it as treated water from the plant would be available for irrigation throughout the year.