The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board is planning to introduce water meters for house service connections. This will enable the board to know the quantum of water consumed and create an awareness on the judicious use of resources.
A. Kathiravan, Deputy Chief Engineer (Operation and Maintenance) of the board, said board would implement the project in rural areas under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Mr. Kathiravan was addressing a conference on “Water Conservation: Reduce, Recycle, Reuse and Regenerate” organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry here on Friday.
TWAD supplied nearly 2,000 million litres of water a day (mld) to a population of nearly 4.26 crore, excluding Chennai. On an average, the per capita supply of water is estimated to be 135 litres in urban pockets. Nearly one crore house service connections have been provided so far in the State.
The board was recycling backwashing water used in filter beds of the treatment plants. Instead of letting it into waterways, the water is sent again to the initial raw water treatment components.
“We use all the river water drawn under the Hogenakkal drinking water supply scheme and minimise water loss. We use 5 mld of recycled water and save up to ₹75,000 daily through the recycling process. About 145 mld of water is treated and supplied to Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri,” he said.
The board operates about 50 sewage treatment plants with a capacity of 150 mld across the State. As of now, about 100 mld of treated sewage was let into waterways and used for irrigation. Nearby industries were allowed to use the secondary treated water, Mr. Kathiravan said.
Speakers from the CII insisted that action must be taken to proceed towards water neutrality and conserve resources.
George Rajkumar, convenor, CII TN Climate Action Panel, said the objective of the conference was to identify and share best conservation practices. MSMEs must adapt to them in a small way.
S. Rajkumar, co-convenor, CII Chennai zone manufacturing panel, and K. Ranjit, managing director, Hygeia e-Services Pvt. Ltd., spoke.
