The Times of India                       13.03.2013 

Diamond City parched

SURAT: While
residents in some of the areas in the Diamond City have started to face
problem of water shortage with the onset of summer season, the municipal
authorities are letting water go waste by ignoring the leakages in
water pipeline network.

If the official record from
Surat Municipal Corporation’s (SMC) hydraulic department is any
indication then around 125 million litres per day (MLD) of water meant
for drinking and other requirements of the residents is wasted due to
minor and major leakages in the underground water pipelines and valves
at the pumping stations.

The loss takes place by way of leakage
through the old and rusted pipelines both above and below the ground,
loose valves and unauthorized water connections.

While some
councillors claimed that the loss through leakages was as high as 30 per
cent, SMC officials maintained that it was not more than 20 per cent.
Although, there is no official figure on leakage, it has been estimated
that of the total water the civic body draws from Tapi river, five per
cent is lost during filtration process while another 10-15 per cent due
to leakage in tanks and pipelines.

According to officials,
though the department repairs surface pipelines, it is difficult for
them to detect underground leakage. Also, the civic body has no maps of
the old pipeline network, which makes it difficult to carry out repair
works.

Prakash Desai, independent councilor, said, “Elsewhere
people are not getting water to drink and there is no mechanism
whatsoever to prevent more than 100 mld water going waste. Time and
again we have raised our concerns in this regard, but the civic
authorities are yet to plug these leakages.”

The civic body has
covered around 93 per cent of the 45 lakh population under the piped
network. The water is drawn from Tapi river from four water works namely
Rander, Varachha, Katargam and Sarthana.

NG Parekh, executive
engineer (hydraulic), told TOI, “We have been regularly attending major
leakage in the water pipeline reported from the city areas, but there
are minor leakages underground, which are difficult to attend to.”