BWSSB Exploring New Techniques to Detect Leaks, Says Chairman

BENGALURU: According to Bengaluru Development Minister K J George, the water loss level in the city presently stands at 36 per cent and the target is to bring it down to at least 30 per cent. The reality though, is that the loss percentage stands at a whopping 46 per cent after sustained efforts over the last six months by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) brought it down by two per cent from 48 per cent.

Delivering the keynote address at the 8th edition of the conference, ‘Water Loss 2016’, in the city on Monday, George said the Unaccounted For Water (UFW) levels globally ranged between 8 and 10 per cent while India’s was 15 per cent.

“Bengaluru is one of the fastest growing cities in the world with the population standing at 11 million. We are not able to cope with its fast pace of growth,” he said.

BWSSB Chairman T M Vijay Bhaskar said that out of the 1,400 MLD pumped to the city, 600 MLD goes to waste. “Setting up a water supply project which can produce 600 MLD would require huge funding,” he said.

Elaborating on the ongoing major projects in the city to reduce non-revenue water/UFW water to 16 per cent, the chairman said that the commissioning of Cauvery Stage IV Phase II has enabled the city get another 400 MLD after huge capital and operational costs.

The Board was exploring new techniques of leak detection using helium gas and invasive technologies to help detect and reduce waste losses, Bhaskar said.

Presenting statistics on Non Revenue Water across various cities, he said that Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata had more than 60 per cent NRW while Bengaluru had 46 per cent.

The event is being organised by IWA and Indian Water Works Association with the support of the BWSSB and Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board.

Altogether, 100 international speakers, over 600 delegates and over 400 organisations are taking part.

Engineer Suspended

When asked about the outcome of the inquiry committees constituted against engineers and other BWSSB officials in connection with irregularities that led to huge loss of water, the BWSSB chairman said that one assistant executive engineer has been suspended in Ramamurthy Nagar.