KMC to supply water 24x7 on pilot basis

Municipal Commissioner says majority of households are not ready to go for a drinking water connection

The Kakinada Municipal Corporation is soon going to implement 24X7 drinking water supply in one of the residential areas on a pilot basis, as plans are afoot to ensure the same as a permanent feature in the city, according to Municipal Commissioner S. Aleem Basha.

Addressing a seminar on “Water Resources Management in Coastal Regions”, organised by the National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) to mark the silver jubilee of its Deltaic Regional Centre here on Friday, he said that cities like Hubli, Dharwad and Nagpur were successfully implementing round-the-clock water supply to all the households, while some cities were forced to drop the project halfway owing to practical issues.

“Absence of technological support is a major setback to implement the project in a big way and there is an immediate need for the entry of private players into the field to address the shortcomings,” he said. A good number of households were not ready to go for a drinking water connection as they were under the impression that water could be used free of cost.

“The huge gap between the number of connections for power and drinking water is a classic example to showcase the mindset of the majority,” he said.

Referring to the storm water drainage scheme, Mr. Basha said that the civic body was going to spend about ₹300 crore to address the sewerage issue and the feasibility study of underground drainage was in the pipeline.

“As Kakinada is being declared a Smart City, there is no dearth of funding from the government. All we need is technical support to undertake the schemes,” he said, welcoming the support from the NIH and the JNTUK.

Adviser to the National Water Mission M. Satyanarayana highlighted the need for knowledge transfer among the institutions and the public sector so that the public could get better amenities.

He advised the civic body to announce incentives to those who use the recycled water and create awareness among the public about the fast depletion of groundwater reserves and the need for the conservation of natural resources.

NIH Director R.D. Singh, co-chairman of the seminar J.V. Tyagi, organising secretaries S. Vijay Kumar and Y.R. Satyaji Rao were present.