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Water Supply

Nagpur Municipal Corporation hikes Ambazari lake water rates too

Tuesday, 21 August 2012 06:24 administrator
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The Times of India   21.08.2012

Nagpur Municipal Corporation hikes Ambazari lake water rates too

NAGPUR: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation's (NMC) water works department (WWD), which is under fire for hiking water tariff within seven months without maintaining transparency, has also increased the rates for Ambazari lake water. This will lead to higher tariff for MIDC Hingna, Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), SRPF and Nagpur University.

NMC has also hiked the penalty charges for illegal connections.WWD hiked the water tariff with effect from April 1, but made it public a couple of days ago by submitting it to the standing committee. Along with tariff of potable water supplied to residential and commercial consumers, NMC had also quietly hiked charges of Ambazari lake's raw water, which is contaminated with sewage water.

The rates have been increased by 5%. This is the second hike in seven months after a revision of 5% on August 12, 2011.The revision will be a setback for MIDC Hingna, which lifts huge quantity of water from the Ambazari lake every day. According to data available from MIDC Hingna, around 8-10 million litres per day (MLD) water is lifted by MIDC Hingna from the lake. After treatment, MIDC Hingna supplies the water to around 1,500 industrial units and some villages including Digdoh Nildoh, Shramik Nagar, and a couple of small villages adjacent to Hingna MIDC.

Since the quantity of water is huge, the 5% increase will make a big impact on MIDC finances.Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) and Nagpur University also lift water from Ambazari lake, though in small quantities. NIT uses the raw water after treatment for its international standard swimming pool on North Ambazari road. The SRPF supplies the water for household use, excluding drinking, to its quarters situated at SRPF colony at Hingna, that too after treatment. Nagpur University utilizes the water for all use other than drinking.According to the revised rates, Hingna MIDC will have to pay Rs5.51 per unit for Ambazari lake water.

The charges are equivalent to what NMC applies for potable water supplied to residential consumers with consumption between 1 to 20 units.NMC supplies the potable water to residential consumers after completing all filtration processes. But MIDC Hingna has to lift the water and treat it at its expense. The major problem for Hingna MIDC is that water in Ambazari lake is highly contaminated due to sewage from Wadi and adjoining areas, and industrial waste from some industries that flows into the lake round the clock in huge quantities.An official from MIDC Hingna said the rates charged to its consumers are decided by the MIDC head quarters.

"Revised rates will be conveyed to higher officials. We cannot comment or take any decision unless approval comes from headquarters," he said.A senior NIT official said that there was no communication from NMC regarding revision in raw water charges.The WWD has also said that penalty charges for illegal connections have been increased from Rs5,250 (residential) to Rs5,512.50, and from Rs15,750 (other than residential) to Rs16,537.50.

 

 

Water wastage: 1,002 challans by civic body fetch Rs 20 lakh

Monday, 20 August 2012 10:50 administrator
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The Indian Express    20.08.2012

Water wastage: 1,002 challans by civic body fetch Rs 20 lakh

The Municipal Corporation has issued 1,002 challans against city residents wasting water as compared to just two last year. With the amount of fine being increased to Rs 2,000 this year, an amount of more than Rs 20 lakh was collected by the civic body.

The Municipal Corporation holds special drives in the peak summer — from April till June — for checking misuse of water. Washing of cars and courtyards using hosepipes or watering of lawns is banned during morning in these months. Challans are also issued in case of leakage from coolers. A total of 14 teams were constituted by the civic body for conducting checks in different sectors.

In the past, the Municipal Corporation issued notices, but not issued challans in such a large number. During the special drive last year, two challans were issued. In 2010, the number of challans was 52 while in 2009 the number stood at 16. This year instead of just issuing notices, more than 1,000 residents were challaned. The amount of fine was also increased this year from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 with the aim of making this a deterrent.

Superintending Engineer (Public Health) R C Diwan says the challans issued this year were more than the previous years. “The aim was to ensure that people do not waste water. During the peak summer months, the demand for water is high and complaints of low-water pressure are received from the residents staying in the upper storeys. Wastage has to be prevented to ensure that people get water for their basic needs,” he adds.

However, with the city receiving good rainfall, the demand for water has also reduced. Officials claim that there is almost a 50 per cent decrease in the demand and the water pressure on the upper storeys is sufficient since water is not required for watering of lawns or filling coolers due to the decrease in the day temperature.

Tertiary treated water in the pipeline

The civic body has completed the construction of the underground water reservoir in Sector 48. With the inauguration of the reservoir, gardens and greenbelts from sectors 48 to 56 would receive supply of tertiary treated water. This would facilitate saving drinking water. The housing societies in these areas which want tertiary treated water for irrigation can apply for a connection with the Municipal Corporation. With the southern sectors housing a substantial population of the city, the supply of tertiary treated water is expected to ease out the water woes, especially for the residents of the upper storeys.

Last Updated on Monday, 20 August 2012 10:51
 

Loss from water works rise to 50per cent

Monday, 20 August 2012 09:07 administrator
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The Times of Times   20.08.2012

Loss from water works rise to 50per cent

NAGPUR: Strange but true. The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is witnessing a reverse proportionate in revenue from water works department (WWD). The financial losses are on rise despite implementation of projects worth around Rs 1,670 crore, additional supply of 110 million liters per day (MLD) water and handing over operation to the private operator.

According to the data available with the NMC, the revenue from WWD from April 1 till date was recorded at around Rs 26 crore for an average of Rs 5.77 crore per month. The expenditure from the WWD is estimated at Rs 11.30 crore per month which includes payment of Rs 6 crore per month to private operator Orange City Water Limited (OCWL) and Rs 5.30 crore for raw water and power supply. The difference between the expenditure and revenue comes to almost 50%. The financial loss from WWD till last fiscal was around 35-37%.

According to the official report of JNNURM projects, NMC implemented 13 projects worth Rs 1,670 crore of which five completed and remaining in final stages excluding 24x7 water supply project. The projects completed include water leak detection, water audit project, energy audit project, expansion and upgradation of water supply distribution network, and Kanhan water treatment plant. All projects excluding Kanhan plant were to reduce the high expenses in the water works. Besides, the Kanhan plant has added 110 MLD water thus increasing the total water supply to around 640 MLD. The increased quantity of water come to around 20%. The NMC should have earned additional revenue from increased water supply. Still, the losses are on rise raising serious question.

Citing the reason about motive to improve the performance, the NMC roped in private operator since December 2011. The operator has been paid Rs 6 crore per month from March this year. Besides, the NMC had established a special purpose vehicle- Nagpur Environmental Services Limited (NESL) for making the water works no profit no loss affair a couple of years ago. Even, the NMC had increased the water tariff by 5% in August 2011. Still, the rise in financial loss is unjustified. Probably, it seems that the WWD wants hike of water tariff every year to hide its inefficiency. Already, the NMC had hiked the water tariff by 5% with effect from April 1 this year inviting fresh controversy.

In fact, the NMC was unaware of increase in loss from WWD if the budgetary provisions are to be considered. According to the data given in the budget of 2012-13 presented by chairman of standing committee Dayashankar Tiwari, the NMC has proposed to grant Rs 80 crore to NESL this year from its other sources of revenue. The NMC has proposed increase in grant which proves officially the rise in financial loss. The grant given in 2010-11 was Rs 40.89 crore and around Rs 70 crore in 2011-12.

Executive engineer Shashikant Hastak assured to provide details and then did not respond to repeated calls.

Blaming the officials of WWD for increase in loss, chairman of water works committee Sudhakar Kohle told TOI that the top officials including Hastak are not taking the water works seriously. "Water supply through tankers should have been withdrawn after additional water available from Kanhan plant. Hastak is not withdrawing the tankers. Even the officials are least bothered to inform mayor Anil Sole and other office bearers about any shutdown in water supply. Action seems only to correct the problems," he said.

Last Updated on Monday, 20 August 2012 09:10
 
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