Online management system to monitor Bengaluru water: Catch the next drop

BWSSB ties up with start-up.

HYDERABAD: TELANGANA: 16/07/2015: The children of the daily wage labourers at a slum near Gun Rock in Secunderabad are seen surrounded to a drinking water tap on Thursday. The slum area generally get the supply of drinking water once in four days. The poor people struggle for their survival besides the Government apathy. Photo: G. Ramakrishna

The city may not have made it to the ‘smart’ list, but at least its water will.

Currently, sights such as those of women standing beside public taps with vessels kept in a queue are not uncommon in many neighbourhoods. However, in the coming months, these consumers, who primarily rely on piped water, may instead get a text message informing what time water will be supplied.

Bengaluru-based start-up NextDrop has bagged a seven-month contract with the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to roll out an online management system to monitor water across the city. Officials said the cost may come up to just Rs. 80 lakh.

Anu Sridharan, co-founder and CEO of the company, said it is “extremely exciting” for the four-year-old start-up to be taking their concept to the State capital.

NextDrop already operates the system in Hubballi-Dharwad. Over 50,000 people have registered with the company – through a toll-free number after which they come under the ambit of the SMS alerts – in the twin cities.

The system acts like an interface between valvemen and the consumer. The valve men inform the system each time water is let into pipes of an area. The system then messages consumers in the area. “Instead of waiting for days for water, the consumers – who are primarily women and children – can now go towards the taps only on receiving the message,” says Raiza Talish, Manager (Marketing), NextDrop.

Apart from this, with enough data gathered by consumers – who can message grievances, water quality and pressure – the system can even predict when an area will get affected, she said.

It has been a long journey for the company that first started trials in the State capital in north Bengaluru in 2013.

Apart from bettering interaction with consumers, there is another advantage for BWSSB. “At present, there is no way for us to verify if valvemen have indeed turned the valves at the specified time. With this system, we can monitor in real-time the time of letting water in an area,” said Dr P.N. Ravindra, Executive Engineer, New Initiative and Public Outreach Division, BWSSB.

He said the dashboard – which is the interface between valvemen, the board and consumers – will be set up and stabilised in seven months.