Pune: Even after spending a whopping Rs 2,550 crore, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will not be able to reduce water losses below 15 per cent. With the ambitious 24x7 Water Supply Project, PMC will be able to reduce the water losses to not less than 15 per cent till the year 2047 from the current 30 per cent.
The PMC cleared the project in February last year. Work on the project is yet to begin. The purpose of the project is to provide equitable and uninterrupted water supply. Citizens will be charged according to usage of water. The project aims at curbing water losses due to leakages and theft.
VG Kulkarni, Chief Superintendent of PMC’s Water Supply Department, said, “We can reduce water leakage for more than 15 per cent, but cost of the project will increase. Another aspect is that we have to consider a certain amount of leakages. So, we cannot go beyond 15 per cent.”
According to Revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by Studio Galli Ingegneria (SGI) in 2017, there is 30 per cent water leakage in the existing system.
In the first phase of work (2017-2022), the PMC set a target to reduce water leakages by 10 per cent. They will reduce another 5 per cent leakages in 2022-32. The water supply will be stabilised till 2047.
According to DPR, PMC is using 16 thousand million cubic (TMC) feet water per year and there is 30 per cent water leakage. It means PMC is wasting 4.8 TMC ft water per year due to leakages. In 2047, PMC will need 24.57 TMC ft water and 3.6 TMC ft water leakages are expected at that time.
In the first year, the PMC will implement the project in Katraj, Sahakar Nagar, Yerawada, Taljai and Viman Nagar as a pilot project.
Later, they will cover the entire city. In three years, the PMC will complete the project. Right now, the PMC is supplying 350 litres of water per day per person. However, most of the areas do not get sufficient water.
