Chennai Corporation to take steps to boost water supply under Smart City Mission

CHENNAI: Work to augment the water supply to City residents and increase the volume of supply, as part of the Smart City Mission, may be underway by March next year. At a cost of Rs 75 crore, the project, that aims to increase the volume of water that is made available to residents and augment the water supply network, was finalised and tenders were called for by the City Corporation on December 13. According to Corporation authorities, the tentative date for issue of the Letter of Award would be March 31. 

It is also expected to help increase the volume by curbing leakages and theft of water. 

This is a part of various initiatives undertaken under the Smart City Mission to increase availability and accountability in the water supply to residents. “Tenders for installing electromagnetic flow meters have also been called for, last month,” said a Corporation official. Plans are on for 251 electromagnetic flow meters of different sizes, to be fitted, in an attempt to keep track of water received, treated and supplied to consumers, at a cost of Rs 11.63 crore.  

The meters would be installed in the pumping mains and service reservoir outlets to monitor the quantity of water pumped and distributed. Data from these meters is to be relayed to a control room under CMWSSB, which would enable authorities to calculate the supply of water to be released, according to Corporation officials. 

Meanwhile, tenders for the smart water meters for bulk consumers, at an estimated cost of Rs 9.3 crore, is in the evaluation stage, said Corporation officials. Under this project, Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) meters are to be used to streamline the billing process for bulk consumers. 

These initiatives aside, a 5-tonne biogas plant which is to run on water hyacinth, is also being planned.