Surat: The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) increased water supply hours across parts of the city after recent floods triggered a drinking water crisis by contaminating underground storage tanks. Floodwaters entered many residential and society-level tanks, forcing residents to drain, disinfect and clean their systems before refilling, sharply increasing demand for additional safe water.“The city is facing extraordinary conditions. Flooding of the Tapi affected operations at certain water treatment plants, disrupting supply in parts of the city,” an SMC official said.While arranging extra supply during disrupted treatment operations remained a challenge, SMC moved to bridge the gap by activating an additional groundwater source at Valak. The corporation started sourcing water from one of the two French wells planned in the area, using the newly completed W-1 well.Officials said the civic body recently completed key readiness steps at the new facility, including line flushing, water quality testing and trial runs. With W-1 operational, SMC can supply an additional 50 million litres per day (MLD) of drinking water.The groundwater, naturally filtered through the soil, is expected to provide a dependable emergency buffer during flood-related disruptions, supporting supply when river-based treatment systems are affected.The move is part of a broader plan to expand Surat’s drinking water capacity as the city grows. Surat’s municipal area recently expanded from 326.515 square kilometres to 461.358 square kilometres, and officials expect water needs to grow with population and development.The corporation is developing alternative groundwater sources in addition to conventional water supplies. For scientific aquifer development, CSIR-NGRI (National Geophysical Research Institute), Hyderabad, carried out aquifer mapping using the heli-borne survey method. Under this study, an airborne geophysical survey was conducted across approximately 275 sq km along and around the Tapi riverbed, from Gaypagla to Dumas.During the survey, transient electromagnetic (TEM) technology was used to analyse subsurface soil layers and aquifer structures. Based on these findings, locations were identified for wells. According to NGRI’s recommendations, the SMC planned two wells of 50 MLD capacity each at Valak, at locations W-1 and P-5.
