The civic body will build a booster pumping station-cum-reservoir at Buroshibtala, bordering Behala and New Alipore, to address water deficiency in the area, an engineer of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) said on Tuesday.

The station, which will take about 18 months to be built, will benefit about 15,000 people living around Hindustan Sweets, Jyotish Roy Road, Malakar Para and Indrapalli, said the coordinator of Ward 117, Amit Singh.

Singh added that the residents had dug trenches in several places in the area to collect the potable water from taps. “The water pressure is so low that water does not reach any tap that has its mouth above the road surface. People have to climb down into the trenches to collect water.” He said all taps in the area have been fitted at a level below the road where the water supply lines run because of the low water pressure.

According to the CMC engineer, the semi-underground reservoir with a capacity to hold 13 lakh litre of water, will receive potable water from the Garden Reach water treatment plant. “The booster pumping station will increase the pressure and the flow of water. Once the high-powered pumps push the water into the network, the pressure will increase and people will receive more quantity of water,” he added.

The chairperson of CMC’s board of administrators, Firhad Hakim, will lay the foundation stone of the pumping station on Thursday.