Yangon starts project to supply water for growing population
13 Jan 20 - Source: Myanmar Times - The Yangon government has begun a project aimed at supplying more water to the region's fast growing population by tapping the Toe River, which is one of the eastern most distributaries in the Ayeyarwady Delta.
Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein said Toe River is about 30.5 kilometres from the Twante Canal.
He said the government will also start the maintenance project on the Pan Hlaing River jointly with international organisations to supply water in Yangon.
"The Toe River project is being started and about 15 billion gallons of water will be supplied to the region," said an officer from the Water Sanitation section of the Engineering Department. Likewise, the government will also improve the region's ageing reservoirs to produce more potable water.
At present the region's water storage facilities are the Hlawga reservoir which was built in 1904 and has 12 billion gallons storage capacity, the Gyo Phyu reservoir built in 1940 with 16.60 billion gallons storage capacity, Phugyi reservoir built in 1992 with 23 billion gallons water storage capacity and the Ngamoeyeik reservoir built in 1995.
U Phyo Min Thein said that with the fast growing population, the region's water supply needs to be upgraded.
"We invite international investments for water infrastructure. There are many sources in this area but we need to produce clean water for the public," he said.
At present the Yangon City Development Committee can only supply potable water to just 45 percent of the region's population but it hopes to reach out to 90 pc of Yangon's residents by 2025.
Yangon was started with around 30 wells in the centre of the city in 1842. Then, it started using pumps and pipes from Kandawgyi Lake in 1879 and from Inya Lake in 1884.
Water in Yangon is categorised as YCDC-supplied water and non-YCDC water. About 90 pc of water supplied by YCDC comes from reservoirs.
