: The State Government has accorded permission to the Coimbatore Corporation to study drinking water distribution in added areas. The Government gave the permission sometime ago and this found a mention in the recent Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department Policy Note 2022-23. The study would cost the Corporation ₹5.36 crore. Sources in the Corporation said the civic body would utilise the money to purchase 192 electromagnetic flow meters – 113 of those to be fixed at the inlet pipelines of as many overhead water tanks used for distribution in added areas and 79 at points where water from the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD Board) entered the Corporation’s distribution system. The 79 points were across the various water supply schemes like Siruvani, Pilloor I, Kavundampalayam-Vadavalli and Aliyar. The sources said by fixing the meters at the 79 points the Corporation could account how much water the TWAD Board supplied, whether that supply matched what it claimed to give and tally it with the money that the Board charged the Corporation for the water. The other 113 electromagnetic meters that the Corporation had decided to fix was a fallout of the promise the ruling party had made – to improve water supply in the added areas comprising 40 wards in a way that the residents there received water once in two days. The residents’ complaint was that there was uneven distribution with a few areas getting water at least twice a week and others twice a month. The Corporation decided to fix 113 meters after studying the distribution in added areas, the sources said and clarified that the mere fixation of meters would not result in improvement in water supply. It was a first step towards the solution. The meters would show the quantity of water that each of the 113 tanks received, the areas that they catered to and the population therein. The next step would be to study the distribution within the area of each of the tanks, the sources explained. The Corporation hoped to complete the meter fixation work by March 31, 2023. At present it was in the process of preparing a detailed project report to get technical sanction. Thereafter it had to float tender and award contract.
