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Water Supply

Water Board mulls meters for PSPs, charitable institutions

Tuesday, 02 November 2010 05:04 administrator
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The Hindu       02.11.2010

Water Board mulls meters for PSPs, charitable institutions

Special Correspondent
To quantify the water being supplied free to institutions

Hyderabad: The Water Board has decided to fix meters for all free supply customers like public stand posts (PSPs) and charities. The 5000-odd PSPs and places of worships in the twin cities and surrounding municipalities will have water meters installed by November end.

The idea is to quantify the water being supplied freely to various institutions. For installing the meters, the Board has sanctioned a budget of Rs.1 lakh to each of the 16 divisions. At present 330 mgd of water is being supplied to the city but the Board is able to account for only 180 mgd. There is no trace of where the remaining 150 mgd is going.

Government has taken a serious view of this glaring lapse. Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration, T.S. Appa Rao, has asked the Water Board to bill for the entire 330 mgd by gradually increasing the billed quantity. As such, each general manager has been set with a target to raise the billing by 10 to 30 per cent every month.

The Board has managed to increase the billed quantity from 143 mgd in September to 167 mgd in October covering 7,13,367 consumer account numbers (CANs). The total number of CANs is 7.42 lakh.

According to a rough estimate, the PSPs consume about 4 mgd while paid and free tankers account for 5 mgd. Besides, a good amount of water goes to waste by way of line leakages and illegal connections. There are also a large number of water connections without any meter.

All this are proposed to be metered in the coming days. “We now want to bring this unaccounted water into the system. What we are drawing from the source will be accounted,” said K. Ashok Reddy, executive director, HMWSSB.

Increase in revenue

The efforts made during the last few months have yielded results. The revenue demand has gone up from Rs. 36 crore in September to Rs. 39 crore in October. The Board plans to further increase its revenue by removing the subsidy given to commercial establishments in water tariff.

Now, both domestic and commercial connections are charged Rs.6 per kilo litre up to 15 kl while for the Board it cost Rs.23 per kl. In other metros, commercial establishments do not enjoy any subsidy, it is said.

 

A panel to find more drinking water

Monday, 01 November 2010 10:24 administrator
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The New Indian Express  01.11.2010

A panel to find more drinking water

BANGALORE: More than a year after announcing its plans to find an additional source of drinking water for the city, the state government has finally decided to appoint a special committee for the job.

According to sources in the Urban Development Department, the government is contemplating on appointing some environmentalists and water experts to the committee. The committee will be given the work of finding an additional source of water that can sustain drinking water needs of the city for the next 50 years.

This development is an outcome of a meeting between Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and a team of officials from the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).

The officials apprised Yeddyurappa about the water scarcity that the city was heading for after 2015.

According to BWSSB officials, the population of the city would have exceeded one crore by 2021 and the city would need at least 1,986 MLD of water then. By 2036, the population is expected to be at least 1.5 crore and the city would need 2,844 MLD of water to cater to them.

By 2050, the city would need at least 3,670 MLD of water for a population of over 2 crore.

The committee will explore possibilities and prepare a feasibility report for getting additional water from various sources identified by the government for the purpose.

At present, the city gets 135 MLD from Cauvery I stage, 135 MLD from the project's II stage, 270 MLD from its III stage and 270 MLD from the IV stage.

The water board is pumping only 18 MLD from Tippagondanahalli Reservoir due to lack of water though it has the infrastructure to pump 125 MLD.

It will pump 500 MLD of water from Cauvery IV Stage II Phase project after its completion.

After the completion of Cauvery IV Stage II Phase, all the known sources of drinking water to the city would have been exploited.

Last Updated on Monday, 01 November 2010 10:27
 

Meghadrigedda water released

Monday, 01 November 2010 05:01 administrator
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The Hindu     01.11.2010

Meghadrigedda water released

Special Correspondent
Four out of six sluice gates lifted to let out 4,900 cusecs

Water level reaches 59.9 feet as against a Full Reservoir Level of 61 feet

Heavy rainfall in catchment areas result in inflows reaching 5,000 cusecs

— Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

In full flow: Water gushing out of the sluice gates of Meghadrigedda reservoir.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Water has been let out from the Meghadrigedda reservoir for the first time during the current year after a gap of two years.

With the onset of northeast monsoon, there is heavy rainfall in the catchment areas. This has resulted in inflows reaching 5,000 cusecs.

The water level reached 59.9 feet on Sunday morning against a Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 61 feet. As a precautionary measure, irrigation officials began releasing water from Saturday evening and on Sunday four out of six sluice gates were lifted up to two feet releasing 4,900 cusecs. While all the six gates were lifted up to six feet in 2005 when the reservoir reached FRL, releasing 53,000 cusecs, the reservoir came to the full level again only in 2007. In 2009, it got filled only up to 58.5 ft. The Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation takes 10 MGD for supply to Gajuwaka, Mindi, HSL Colony and some large industries around that area.

The reservoir, renamed as Dronamraju Satyanarayana Reservoir, was commissioned in December 1977. After the 2005 floods inundated the Visakhapatnam airport stalling operations for 15 days, drain improvement works were carried out to improve its carrying capacity to 63,000 cusecs. Water merges into the sea at Naval Dockyard marshy area. Large number of people from all over the city thronged the reservoir to have a look at the water gushing out of the sluice gates into the spillway. Water collected from 135 sq. miles in Kothavalasa, Sabbavaram, Sonthyam and surrounding hills get accumulated in the reservoir with 4.4 km of flood bank and an earthen bund of 1.6 km and 240 feet of spillway.

 
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