Supply of 24×7 potable water in your taps for which you don’t need to install a water purifier will soon be reality in the coming years in Chandigarh.
Work on this front has begun in the right earnest with the Municipal Corporation Chandigarh signing a historic project agreement with a French financial institution, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) with the support of the European Union. Apart from the design of the programme, AFD is funding the major part of the investment through a Rs 412 crore soft loan.
Ageing water supply system
The water pipes have been laid down many years ago …. which has put a lot of pressure on them over decades. Due to the multi-dimensional pressure on the city infrastructure, increase in population and the criss-crossing of pipelines, many welded due to repair work, it is not possible to isolate and detect leakages.
Now, that most of the pipleines will be replaced, there will be no problem of low pressure on upper floors of buildings. Over 270 km of water supply network which hinders high pressure water, would be replaced.
No need for over-head/ underground tanks as water supply will be avaialabe 24×7, This would lead to lesser pumping of water, further reducing the carbon footprint of the project.
Round-the-clock high pressure water at every household would eliminate chances of contamination. Due to continuous flow of water in water pipes, less rate of contamination through seepage from sewer line will take place.
Also, women would be at the forefront of the project and occupy 20% to 50% posts at every level, right from operator to managerial cadres.
All slums and colonies will get a tap in every household, there will be no need to install tubewells which will aLso save ground water from depleting.
Smart water metering
Due to smart metering up to the household level, all leakages even in the internal plumbing would be identified. Once citizens rectifies any leakage, water bill would automatically come down.
Through smart water metering, the consumption pattern of residents would be monitored and consumer would be made aware of any deviation from the normal in use of water.
Chandigarh’s pan city project with Smart Water Metering for all the 1.77 lakh connections, is the first of its kind in the country.
Water bill on mobile
SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) will be linked with AMR (automated meter reader device) meters, so the water bill will appear on your mobile.
1.78 lakh water meters will be converted to AMRs at the cost of 60.77 cr
From SCADA, complaints of line leakage/ breakage/ water theft will go directly from SCADA to the mobile phones of area JE and SDO. The problem of line leakage will get reduced from 40 pc to 10-15 pc.
Existing old, worn-out pumping machinery will be replaced with energy-efficient pumps.
Where will the money come from:
Total cost: Rs 591.59 cr
FID bank loan: Rs 412cr 80 lakh
Grant-in-aid from EU: 97.87 cr
MC+Smart city: 80.92 cr
