Tala tank
The Tala tank, also spelled Tallah tank, is a water tower in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Construction started in 1909 and it was inaugurated in May 1911 by Edward Norman Baker, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal. The tank, which is owned by Kolkata Municipal Corporation, is fed by Palta Water Works near Barrackpore. More than 110 years after construction, the tower remains the major water supplier to the city of Kolkata.
The water tower, which is claimed to be the world's largest overhead water reservoir, covers, has a capacity of, stands off the ground and weighs 44 thousand tonnes – including water – at maximum capacity. The tank has four individually isolated chambers and a single pipeline for the water source from Palta and to send the water supply to the city.
The steel was imported from the United Kingdom and is of similar quality to that which was used to build the RMS Titanic. It has survived multiple calamities including the 1934 Nepal–India earthquake, World War II Imperial Japanese aerial bombings from 1942 to 1944 and Cyclone Amphan in 2020.
The water tower has undergone renovations since its centenary, under the consultancy of IIEST Shibpur, Jadavpur University, IIT Kharagpur and Central Electrochemical Research Institute at an estimated cost of. The renovations were carried out one chamber at a time to prevent interruptions in the city's water supply.
History
Before pumped water supply to Kolkata began in 1820, the city's water was mainly sourced from the Lal Dighi at B. B. D. Bagh, which the British authorities considered was the only hygienic water body in the area. In 1820, as demand for water grew, a small pump house was built at Chandpal Ghat to draw water from the Hooghly River. Water was supplied to a limited area through open brick aqueducts. The first drinking water was supplied to the city with the establishment of a small water treatment plant at Pulta Water Works, which started operating between 1864 and 1870 at Pulta, a neighbourhood near Barrackpore and then north of Calcutta. The supply reached the city via Tala and the first pipeline was installed in 1868 at a cost of, having a capacity of to cater a population of approximately 400,000.Initially, Palta Water Works fed an underground reservoir at Wellington Square in the city centre. It had a capacity of which gradually became insufficient for the growing population. Supply from underground reservoirs proved to be challenging in terms of cost and time, and because of the very flat landscape in and around the city there was no suitable place to build a high reservoir. To ensure uninterrupted water supply to the city, the Assistant Engineer of Calcutta Corporation, Arthur Peirce, conceived what became Tala tank in 1901. The Chief Engineer of KMC, W. B. MacCabe, designed the tank in 1902. Having a nine-million-gallon water reservoir overhead was a daring proposition. Edward Norman Baker, Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, commissioned the tank on 18 November 1909.
Philanthropist Babu Khelat Ghosh donated around 7 bigha of land for the construction. The lane adjoining the tank was later named Khelat Babu Lane. M/s T K Mukherjee and Co. did the piling work. The foundation of reinforced concrete was built by Rajendra Nath Mookerjee's company M/s Martin and Co. It was heavily ballasted and compressed using steamrollers. A barrier wall was built with two rows of long piles and concrete around the plinth so it did not spread. Raw materials, wood and special anti-corrosive steel plates were brought from Burma and Middlesbrough, England, respectively, and fabrication works were carried out on-site. M/s Clayton, Son and Co. of Leeds, England carried out the work of fabricating and erecting the steel columns and tank. The flat top cover was made up of thick fine concrete, which was provided by Arracon Co. and Babu Kali Sunkar Mitter. The construction work was completed by 12 January 1911 at a total cost of. With new main pipelines and installations, the total cost of the tank was around US$1.55 million in 1911.
Connections from Palta waterworks to the Tala tank were made with diameter cast iron pipes that were laid along Barrackpore Trunk Road. Pumps in a large building at Palta drew water from the river and lifted it into large masonry tanks and the water reached the city under gravitational force at a rate of. The tank was designed to work as a water reserve for the main lines in the city. It connected the Wellington Square reservoir via Circular Road and Dhurramtollah.
Threats
The tank has survived several calamities since construction. The typical structure of the tank responded poorly to horizontal loading. In 1934, it survived the 8.0 magnitude scale|magnitude] Nepal–India earthquake. Another potential threat to the reservoir was the 2020 Cyclone Amphan, a Super Cyclonic Storm and one of the strongest storms to impact the area, since the 1999 Odisha cyclone. KMC and Jadavpur University experts and engineers assessed the risk and devised a precautionary plan to save the tank from toppling. They suggested half-filling all four of the tank's chambers until the cyclone had passed and cutting the water supply from the reservoir to maintain the weight balance against high-velocity winds and gusts, because the tank is supported by columns with no anchorage. The super cyclone did not damage the reservoir.During the Second World War, the reservoir, along with the Howrah Bridge and Kolkata Port, was under constant threat of Japanese aerial bombings on Calcutta. The British were worried about this because it was the city's biggest reservoir. To prevent it from being bombed, it is said that grass was planted on top of the tank so it resembled an open field from above. Tala tank also endured bomb scares during the India-Pakistan Wars of 1947–1948 and 1965. At the time of the 1964 East Pakistan riots rumours spread that the tank had been poisoned by the Muslims. Out of fear, people in the city started carrying soda bottles, instead of water. A poison scare resurfaced in February 2011, when then Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that CPM party men might add poison to the tank and Palta waterworks. Central Industrial Security Force personnel were assigned to guard the tank as a security measure.
Renovation
During Tala Tank's centenary in 2009, minor renovations were carried out. The first major overhaul was planned in 2013 with 2020 as the deadline after an assessment by IIEST Shibpur, JU, IIT Kharagpur and Central Electrochemical Research Institute experts that showed the tank's condition was deteriorating and that it needed an immediate overhaul. The estimated cost was, 200 times more than the tank's construction cost. Signs of steel corrosion were evident at multiple areas of the chambers. Up to 2020, the reservoir had developed fourteen leaks. Vegetation had started to grow on the wooden sleepers and the sleepers had shifted from the original position. The renovation work included works like structural member replacement and chamber strengthening, replacement of wooden top and base by mild steel plates. The work was delayed multiple times, mainly due to lack of funds. Global tenders were placed in 2017 and work started in July 2017, with a cost estimate of. The Government of India bore 33% of the cost and the rest was borne by the Government of West Bengal and KMC. Bridge and Roof Company was engaged to perform the overhaul. To compensate for the shortage of water during the renovation, existing pumps across the city's water network were upgraded and extra pumps were installed at Palta. In 2017, KMC installed a leak detection system in the tank. The first chamber renovation was completed and was opened on 19 June 2019 by the Mayor of Kolkata, Firhad Hakim. After the renovations are complete, this tank won't require any major repairs for another 100 years. As of December 2022, the deadline for completion of the renovation work was middle of 2023.The renovation of the old, damaged Palta-Tala pipeline was carried out by KMC and RITES Ltd. under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission at an estimated cost of in 2009. The upgrade to diameter pipeline system was completed in 2012 and cost.