BENGALURU:With the completed Unaccounted For Water (UFW) project in Bengaluru South, East and part of Central resulting in daily savings of 151 Million Litres of Water for the City now, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has recently extended it to three other regions.
Contracts have been awarded to private firms to implement the project in Bengaluru North, South East and part of Central. Shanti Nagar, Shivaji Nagar, Vasant Nagar and Sahkar Nagar figure among the new areas that will be covered.
The D164 crore UFW project started in 2013 aimed at bringing down the water losses in the City from 48 percent to 16%. It focused on replacing all pipelines below 100mm diameter, repairing all leaks and cracks in old pipelines and cracking the whip on unauthorised connections as they were causing substantial water losses daily.
BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief Kemparamaiah told The New Indian Express, “All infrastructure work has been completed in the areas where the project was begun. The maintenance work has now begun for them.” Due to this project, South Bengaluru is now saving 62 Million litres of water Per Day (MLD), West 57 MLD and Central 32 MLD.”
Asked if the 16% goal could be achieved, Kemparamaiah said, “That was not possible as it the target set was really ambitious and of international standards. Despite our best efforts, many unauthorised connections continue to exist. However, the results have been impressive and so we have decided UFW.”
The target could be achieved this time around as all infrastructure pertaining to water distribution will be replaced in the newly added areas, he explained. “Our crackdown on illegal connections is also more rigorous now,” the EIC added.
Three BWSSB Chief Engineers To Retire Today
Three Chief Engineers are set to retire from BWSSB together today (May 31) which is set to leave a big gap in experience and expertise in the organisation. Those retiring today include Dr P N Ravindra (Kavery), K R Manjunath (Projects) and A N Chandraprabha (Waste Water Management) who has served as the only woman Chief Engineer in the 54-year-old Board’s history. “The three have worked in all divisions of BWSSB like Projects, Maintenance and been at the helm when commissioning crucial Cauvery Water Supply projects over the years,” a top official said. “Dr Ravindra, who holds a Ph.D has a wide international network and that helped us enormously in drawing from the experience of other countries in water management,” he added. Due to non-recruitment for some years, the Additional Chief Engineers who will succeed them are junior to them by seven years while one ACE will be junior by 13 years. “There is definitely going to be a big vacuum when they leave,” another official pointed out.