With the loss of water from leakages and Unaccounted for Water (UFW) measuring at high rates, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) has begun to, quite literally, tighten the screws.
Upon calling for experts to study the situation and provide a sustainable solution, as many as seven agencies have come forward for taking up the consultancy study for preparation of the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) on UFW reduction in the two divisions of the HMWS&SB.
Interestingly, Larsen & Toubro, who had earlier showed interest in taking up the pilot project through the water distribution system by implementing UFW programme in certain areas of the city and had even given presentations to the Municipal Administration and Urban Department (MAUD) and HMWS&SB, has backed out of the project and did not participate in the Expression of Interest (EoI) invited by the HMWS&SB.
The seven agencies who submitted EoI include MS DRA Consultants, Sai Technologies, Tata Consulting Engineers, Shaw Technician, SGI Studio, Tandon Urban Solutions and Ran Hill Water Services.
HMWS&SB officials told Express that they too were surprised at L&T’s non-participation in the EoI.
The Board will give Request for Proposal (RFP) documents to the agencies and one-month time will be given to them for submitting the technical and financial bids.
Only those who qualify in the technical bids through provision of marks will have their financial bids opened.
It is said that the HMWS&SB has proposed to take up the UFW project in Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Divisions of 2 and 6 of HMWS&SB where nearly 50 per cent of the water supplied is unaccounted in the two divisions.
Of the 50 per cent, nearly 25 per cent of water is lost due to leakages in water pipelines and distribution system while the remaining 25 per cent are commercial losses through illegal connections, tampering of water meters by the consumers, consumers with more than one water connection, non functioning of water meters and so on.
The Water Board wanted to engage the consultants for preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) with technical proposals for the two divisions by duly calculating the base costs for UFW reduction and study of the section level and docket level metering in the water supply network of Operation & Maintenance Division of two and six.
The study include two parts, part A include carrying out necessary surveys and investigations, design and establishing DMAs, measuring the initial values of UFW and leakages, determining all necessary remedial and improvement measures in the areas assigned to reduce UFW to 16 percent overall in the jurisdiction of O&M 2 and 6.
Part B includes the study of all the sources of supply to various sections and dockets within the sections and the finalisation of suitable locations for fixing Bulk Flow Meters connected to central SCADA, so as to measure actual quantities of water supplied to the sections and dockets besides arriving at the UFW valves in each O&M section. This will also result in achieving complete water audit in each section under the two O&M divisions.
The project envisages plugging of water leakages, thus ensuring high water pressure and minimising losses in the distribution system. Currently, water leakage in the city is amount to about 45 - 50 per cent.
The internationally accepted level of permissible leakage is a maximum of 20 to 25 per cent. With the UFW project, the HMWWS&SB aims to bring it down to less than half.
The HMWS&SB has been appraised about the project proposals to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) team which visited the city a few months ago.
The JICA gave express consent to extend the loan assistance to the said project. After due process at their head office, they have agreed to send their next appraisal team along with the JICA Director for further process.