The Hindu 10.05.2013
Plan to supply drinking water to all urban areas
State government has come out with Rs. 4,000-crore investment projection
The State government has come out with an investment projection involving Rs. 4,000 crore to cover all urban areas with drinking water supply in the State.
Investment to be made in a phased manner will span over 10 years. The investment will take care of operation and maintenance of water supply infrastructures during the period.
According to sources in the Housing and Urban Development Department, within next five years, 50 per cent coverage will be achieved in uncovered and partially covered wards of urban local bodies, non-revenue water is planned to be reduced to 30 per cent and 50 per cent household metering has been proposed to be achieved in three municipal corporations.
Currently, the State government is finalising a policy on drinking water supply to ULBs. The draft will be placed before the Cabinet by the end of this month. According HUD Department, focus will now be on smaller project for improving coverage of water supply. Smaller projects will be taken up in more numbers in uncovered and partially covered wards.
Fund provision
Fund provision of Rs. 50 lakh each to three municipal corporations, Rs. 30 lakh each to 37 municipalities and Rs. 20 lakh each to Notified Area Councils will be made which means the aggregate project cost should not exceed twice the limit prescribed, as most of the projects are to be completed during the current financial year.
Water demand
As per the recent review meeting on drinking water supply to urban areas, the present water demand of all ULBs of the State is 802.74 Million Litres per Day (MLD) and the current supply by PHEO is 793.65 MLD.
Although the overall demand and supply gap in the State is very less, there is a huge gap in the supply levels across different ULBs. On the basis of per capita supply level, 11 ULBs have more than 135 lpcd (litre per capita per day), 13 have 100 - 135 lpcd, 30 have 70 - 135 lpcd and 49 ULBs have less than 70 Ipcd. Out of total 1,850 wards in all ULBs, 145 wards are still uncovered and 552 wards are partially covered.
In terms of Service Level Benchmark Indicator, house connection coverage in 63 NACs is 16 per cent.
