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Water Supply

Civic panel mulls reduced water supply for some fringe areas

Friday, 26 April 2013 11:48 administrator
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The Times of India                     26.04.2013

Civic panel mulls reduced water supply for some fringe areas

PUNE: The standing committee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will take a call on the rationing of water in the fringe areas of the city. The civic administration has submitted a proposal to limit water supply to a few areas in the 23 villages around Pune city. The proposal was tabled before the committee on Tuesday.

The draft proposal stipulates the provision of 40 litre per capita per day (LPCD) water for people living in these areas. The civic body claims the policy will help it manage water resources better. The 23 fringe villages, which fall in a 5-km radius, were earlier getting about 80 LPCD. This will be reduced to 40 LPCD.

The water supply department supplies a total of 16.18 MLD (million liters per day) water to these villages. In city areas, the civic body provides almost 200 LPCD.

The rationing will continue till more water sources are developed. The new sources include tapping water from Bhama Askhed dam and capacity enhancement of Cantonment and Parvati water works, sources said.

Meanwhile, due to the absence of infrastructure, parts of some areas will not get water at all. The civic body gives building permissions on the condition that the developer will make provisions for water supply once the project is complete. This way, the civic body ensures that minimum drinking water needs are met with water provided by the civic body.

Civic officials said the PMC's draft proposal is inspired by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) policy that was implemented some time ago which helped check water usage.

The proposal stated that there should be a policy for better utilisation of water for the city. The policy aims at providing adequate water to residents in city areas and other places where the civic body has developed a water supply network. It will help save water and manage the existing stock judiciously.

The city draws over 16 TMC water from the reservoirs of Panshet, Khadakwasla, Temghar and Varasgaon dams. The city has been facing water cuts since March 2012. The two-time water supply was reduced to once a day. The city first had a 20% water cut, which was reduced to 10% in August 2012 after the monsoon progressed.
Last Updated on Friday, 26 April 2013 11:51
 

Mumbai gets enough water even as other areas suffer

Friday, 26 April 2013 06:32 administrator
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Business Line                   26.04.2013

Mumbai gets enough water even as other areas suffer

Pooja Kamble, a homemaker from Ramtirth village in Beed district in central Maharashtra, walks 15 km in the blistering heat to fetch water for her family. At the end of her ordeal, she manages to get 16 litres of drinking water. She makes two trips a day to the community well, which is the only well in a 30-km vicinity that has not gone dry.

Meanwhile, 475 km away, Shalini Pant, a working mother staying in suburban Mumbai uses 80 litres of water, in her washing machine for washing the soiled T-shirts of her son after he returns from football practice.

Today, in Maharashtra, the hinterland is facing the worst drought in decades, while on the coast, in cities such as Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Ratnagiri there is surplus water. According to the statistics of the Hydraulic Department of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), the six lakes, which supply to Mumbai cumulatively have 326,405 thousand million litres of water, while last year it had 316,886 thousand million litres. In effect, the financial capital has more water this year than the previous year.

Vijay Khabale, spokesperson for the MCGM told Business Line that this year the water situation is very comfortable and the citizens have been spared water cuts. However, due to the ageing water distribution system, there are 20 per cent losses. These losses would be halved in a few years when the water gets routed through the 14 underground tunnels that are under construction, he said.

Khabale pointed out that, unlike the existing pipelines, it would be very difficult to siphon off water from the tunnels. Mumbai city, with its current population of 12.5 million, gets 3,350 million litres of water per day. Its per capita water availability 180 litres per day, on an average the supply is for 90 minutes to 4 hours.

A senior official in the Hydraulic Department said that the city manages to get enough drinking water in spite the mushrooming population because of the vision and the foresight of the British administrators. rahul.wadke@thehindu.co.in

 

Goof-up leads to another water shut-down

Thursday, 25 April 2013 11:45 administrator
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The Times of India                  25.04.2013

Goof-up leads to another water shut-down

NAGPUR: Fuelling the ongoing controversy on water supply, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and private water operator Orange City Water Limited (OCWL) have planned yet another two-day shut down, which will affect half the city.

The shut down is likely to evoke strong opposition following the severe water crisis prevailing in the city, especially in the East and North Nagpur which is set to be affected from shut down. Many corporators are also seeing something fishy over the earlier decision to cancel the planned shut down in West and South-West Nagpur.

The shut down has been planned on April 27 and 28. Continuing to ignore mayor Anil Sole's directives, the OCWL did not provide water to affected areas through tankers or any other alternative sources. Supply to the 15 overhead water tanks, which releases water to East and North Nagpur, and parts of South Nagpur, will be stopped.

Interestingly, Sole cancelled the shut down planned for West and South-West Nagpur on April 16 and 17 citing the work as 'non-emergency works'. The mayor had also asked OCWL not to undertake any more shut downs during the summer months.

Yet, the NMC and OCWL have gone ahead and planned the shut down for non-emergency works like installation of flow meters, air valves, interconnection and repairing of leakages. The NMC water works department and OCWL have put the blame on the ongoing JNNURM works. OCWL project manager Sandip Purohit said the shut down was mainly for connecting two newly constructed overhead water tanks at Nandanwan and Kharabi.

The NMC Pench project cell executing JNNURM works had said that works planned by the department were not emergency in nature and could be postponed.

Meanwhile, a big goof-up of NMC and Veolia Water has come to fore. NMC sources told TOI that the work to install zero velocity valves at two places on pipeline supplying water from Kanhan water treatment plant to overhead water tanks in East and North Nagpur should have been undertaken by them before it was put to use. "These valves are very important for preventing from damage to pipeline after power interruption," the sources said.

The Kanhan plant and pipeline was brought into use from 2011.

OCWL spokesperson Sachin Dravekar said the shut down for West and South-West Nagpur will be taken in the coming days. "Shut down is must to execute developmental works under 24X7 water supply project," he said.
Last Updated on Thursday, 25 April 2013 11:48
 
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