GMDA Tests New 100-MLD Chandu Budhera Water Unit

GURUGRAM: The city's next major water-supply upgrade has moved off the drawing board and into testing. The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority has begun calibrating pumps and machinery at the fifth 100-million-litres-per-day filtration unit at the Chandu Budhera water treatment plant, setting up a three-month trial before full commissioning.

Once operational, the unit will raise GMDA's combined treatment capacity from 670 MLD to 770 MLD. That is a meaningful addition for a city where new sectors, high-rise communities and commercial districts continue to increase demand faster than older supply systems were designed to handle. Officials have said the extra capacity will particularly support sectors along the Southern Peripheral Road.

The testing phase matters because a treatment unit cannot simply be switched on at full load. Pumps, filtration systems, electrical equipment and flow controls must work together under changing demand. GMDA officials said machinery is currently being calibrated and formal trial runs are expected to begin shortly. The trials will continue for three months before the plant is declared operational.

Chandu Budhera currently has four filtration units of 100 MLD each. GMDA also operates three 90-MLD units at Basai, bringing the existing total to 670 MLD. The fifth Chandu Budhera unit will take that figure to 770 MLD, while another filtration unit and two storage treatment tanks are planned at Basai. The wider expansion is aimed at keeping pace with projected drinking-water demand of roughly 1,170 MLD by 2031.

For residents, however, headline capacity is only one part of the equation. Treated water still has to travel through a distribution network that includes master pipelines, boosting stations and local connections managed by different agencies. A new 100-MLD unit will have its greatest impact only if downstream infrastructure can carry the additional supply without leaks, pressure loss or repeated shutdowns.

The project has also faced shifting completion timelines, which makes the start of physical testing an important milestone. It gives the authority a measurable next stage: complete calibration, run the plant under trial conditions, document water-quality results and publish a firm commissioning schedule. Residents in fast-growing SPR sectors will be watching for the point at which added capacity translates into more dependable supply at the tap.

Separately, GMDA has lined up around Rs 84 lakh of stormwater work at four corridors, including IFFCO Chowk to Kanhai Chowk, Kanhai Chowk to SPR, Subhash Chowk to Hero Honda Chowk and the dividing road between Sectors 44 and 45. The proposed work includes additional drain inlets, debris removal and lowering earthen shoulders. Together, the water and drainage projects underline the same reality: Gurugram's growth now depends as much on basic urban systems as it does on new roads and towers.