Chandigarh: In a bid to ensure efficient management of water resources, minimise losses and improve overall service delivery, the MC will conduct the city’s first water audit.The civic body has approached the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), New Delhi, for the purpose.Experts from NIUA and IIT, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), technical partner of NIUA, will conduct the audit. Key aspects covered during the exercise include water generation, transmission system, water works performance, metering, non-revenue water, distribution system of the city, water theft and unauthorised usage. “The audit requires lot of data, documents and water indicators of the city. A team of experts from NIUA visited the MC recently and held discussions with us. The civic body has most of the data ready and will share it with them. We will also share the machinery and technology used in the city’s water supply,” a senior official of the MC told TOI.He added that NIUA experts will update the MC on ideas for improvement in water supply and use of energy-efficient machinery. “Plans for new machinery will be made on the basis of these inputs. No major machinery has been procured after 2004, which makes this a crucial part of the exercise to make the water supply and distribution system sustainable,” the official said.Need for infra review Now that the 24X7 water supply project has been cancelled, the MC is considering a comprehensive assessment of the water network, sources said. “The water assessment component was part of the 24X7 water supply project, due to which it was not planned separately earlier. Since the project has been cancelled, the MC needs to review its decades-old water supply network, an official told TOI.Assessment components 1: Water generation: Assessment of raw water abstraction and treated water output from water works 2. Transmission system: Assessment of leakages and inefficiencies in rising mains and bulk transmission pipelines (critical infrastructure designed for transport of large volume of water)3: Performance of water works: Evaluation of storage reservoirs and pumping stations for operational losses and leakages 4. Metering: Verification of metering, accuracy levels, coverage and functionality 5. Non-revenue water (NRW): Comprehensive analysis of unbilled consumption, apparent losses, real losses and unauthorised usage 6: Distribution system: Mapping and assessment of leakages in distribution lines, service lines and consumer connections 7. Water theft and unauthorised connections: Analysis and approximate quantification of illegal tapping and misuse of supply MSID:: 130515324 413 |
