The Times of India 07.10.2010
24x7 water supply may be a reality soon
JAIPUR: By next week, at least 800 houses would be connected with 24x7 water supply lines. This might be a prelude to the entire city realising the dream in coming months. First, the PHED is working on a pilot project that would connect houses in parts of Mansarovar and Malviya Nagar with special supply lines.
The idea behind the initiative has been to study the consumption pattern of residents under the 24x7 supply regime. However, all experts working on the project seem positive about reduced withdrawal, consumption and loss of water under the new supply system.
By October 15, Sectors 1, 3 and 9 in Mansarovar and 1 in Malviya Nagar would be linked with 800 connections of special pipelines that would supply water 24x7 and the consumers would no longer require to store water in their overhead tanks for future consumption.
According to Dinesh Sharma, senior engineer and city in-charge, PHED, the idea behind introducing the new system on a pilot basis is to know the consumption pattern of the residents.
"Experience in Badlapur in Maharashtra and in cities in Malaysia show that people have reduced their consumption and the internal loss of water had been controlled under the new system," said Sharma.
The success stories of these areas have shown they also have similar level of water procurement from various sources.
"They also work at 140 litre per capita per day (LPCD) as we do and they have successfully run the 24x7 supply system," added Sharma. He exuded confidence that if the pilot project is successful then the areas would be extended in the near future.
The PHED would stress on introducing new metering and prevention of internal leakage of water due to ruptured pipelines and faults in the end users' lines. According to a government audit report, water worth Rs 235 crore is lost by the PHED due to abnormal leakage in the distribution network of this parched state.
The CAG audit report for 2009 shows the loss due to leakage between the water drawn and received by the end-users is around Rs 235 crore between 2003-04 and 2007-08. The report also speaks about the illegal water connections which take a toll on both revenue of the department and the state's commitment to provide water to everyone.
However, working on improving the situation would increase the LPCD for the city and thus the chances of graduating to the new system would be brighter. At present Jaipur has 130 LPCD for an average consumer.
