The irrigation department has completed test-run of 4 of the 7 pumps at the Nandimedaram pump house, until now.
The crucial Nandimedaram pump house, part of the mega Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, on Wednesday notched two more milestones with successful wet runs – pumping of water – using its pump numbers three and four. So far, the irrigation department engineers have successfully test-run four of the seven pumps at the pumphouse.
The first two pumps at Nandimedaram, officially named ‘Package 6’ of the Kaleshwaram project and built at a cost of Rs 4,961 crore, were successfully tested on April 24 and April 25, respectively.
On 15 May, the wet run of the third pump was successfully completed, followed by the running of the fourth pump later in the evening. The 124.4 Mega Watt capacity pumps lift water vertically to a height of 110 metres with each pump and pour the water into a cistern from where it flows via gravity to the Nandimedaram reservoir. When all seven pumps are operational, between them, they can lift 634 cusecs of water.
Wednesday’s test runs of pumps three and four were overseen by Officer on Special Duty (Irrigation) at the Chief Minister’s office Sridhar Rao Deshpande, irrigation department engineer in chief Venkateswarulu, advisor to the Chief Minister (lift irrigation) Penta Reddy. Speaking after the wet run on Wednesday, Deshpande said they were confident of a glitch-free test run after the successful running of the first two pumps earlier in April.