Work on a 24x7, metered water supply project based on preventing wastage, improving infrastructure, and installing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) will begin soon in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC).
The project is being taken up under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission with spill-over funds, pooled up from civic bodies that failed take up works allotted to them under the urban mission.
The project covers the southwest portion of the central part of the city from Scindia to Old Gajuwaka Junction covering Sriharipuram and adjoining areas with a population of 2 to 2.5 lakh.
The tender has been finalised for the Rs.110 crore project and the State Government’s final approval is awaited, sources in GVMC told The Hindu . Though the work is originally planned to be completed in a year, by March 2014, now with the orders for work yet to be given it may stretch up to next June. The foundation for the work was laid by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy in December last.
Presently the area is being supplied 2 mgd to 3 mgd of water from Meghadrigedda and Tatipudi reservoirs.
The project envisages plugging leakages and bringing down the unidentified flow of water or non-revenue water presently estimated at 40 per cent to 16 per cent and improve the water availability by 1 mgd, sources explained.
It aims to reduce leakages and contamination and improve service delivery. To achieve this, old pipelines and pumping mains will be replaced and reservoirs will be constructed block-wise. This will enable monitor gauge pressure variations and ensure supply round-the-clock, explained the sources.
This is the first 24X7 water supply scheme of the GVMC in a large area serving five wards.
The wards have been chosen because of their location with good potential for managing the systems.
The earlier 24X7 supply at Muralinagar covered a few hundred houses and the one at Sagarnagar is a virtual non-starter.
