Residents of a part of Cheran Nagar at Kavundampalayam may see improvement in water in the next 90 days as the Coimbatore Corporation has joined hands with PSG College of Technology, private company SMINT TIQ Pvt. Ltd. to implement a project that is funded by the Department of Science and Technology.
Civic body officials, the College Principal, R. Rudramoorthy, Team Leader 24x7 project P. Gopalakrishnan, the company's Managing Director R. Damodaran and DST Scientist Sanjai Kumar were present during the inauguration on Wednesday.
Mr. Damodaran said the project objective was to minimise wastage by implementing a smart distribution system and reduce the demand-supply gap.
To implement the project, the partnering agencies chose a portion of Cheran Nagar with 147 houses that received from the nearby six-lakh-litre overhead water tank.
In the existing water distribution system there, the company would install open/close valve, water meter, latching solenoid valve, flow regulator and pressure sensor to ensure that every house in the chosen location received water at 135 litres per capita a day (LPCD), as prescribed by the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation.
The water meter would record the flow of water and the sensors in the distribution system would trigger signals for closing the valve once a house gets the required water.
Mr. Damodaran also said that the technology designed by the College had also factored in the possibility of residents leaving partially open their inlet pipes for the water to trickle into their tanks and water flow not triggering the water meter because of low flow rate.
As a part of the project, the company would install solar-powered zone boxes, which would house-wise data for official to monitor water supply on a real-time basis.
A. Soundarrajan, a PSG College of Technology faculty and principal investigator for the project, said after implementing the project in the area selected in 90 days, the agencies involved would look at expanding to other neighbouring areas that received water from the very overhead tank.
The DST’s Technology Mission Division had sanctioned ₹ 3 crore for the project and the guidelines mandated that a college, private company and the local body come together to form a consortium.
Mr. Rudramoorthy said given that water was turning precious resource, such technological intervention was required to ensure equitable distribution.
