Kolkata: Meters, smart valves to stop water wastage in New Town

KOLKATA: New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has issued notices to all housing societies in New Town, asking them to cooperate with NKDA workers to allow them to access their underground reservoirs and water tanks to install domestic water meters and smart float valves. This comes after NKDA completed work in its own underground water reservoirs,
Officials said that while this will not be a charged service, it will help in improving the availability of water by ensuring better flow through accurate measurement and prevent water wastage by stopping water from overflowing from the reservoirs when it gets filled up. “Consumers or households will not be charged anything. This is being done only to ensure proper water supply and to stop wastage of water, said an official.
NKDA has been implementing the project to install smart float valves in the underground water reservoirs and overhead tanks across New Town. The directorate of Public Health Engineering (PHE) is executing the project conceptualised earlier last year.
NKDA officials said the system is technically called electro magnetic flow meter with GPRS, RTU and control valve for bulk consumer water supply. “The smart valves have a sensoric system. Once a reservoir or water tank gets full, the sensor will throw a signal to the valves as it will get closed and prevent water from overflowing. The valve will again get a signal or message to let water flow inside the reservoir when the water level reduces to below the half level,” officials explained.
“The system will run manually for the underground reservoirs in the blocks and individual housings and will be operated electronically for the overhead tanks. As per estimates, the system will help in saving over 30% of the water that is being supplied,” said an official.
Residents welcomed the move, saying this will help in minimising water wastage in the township. “Water consumption is more during this time when summer heat is at its highest. Installing water meters will help the authorities to check whether there is any shortage of water supply and the smart valves will help to prevent overflowing and wastage of water from the reservoirs,” said Prasenjit Karmokar, a resident of a housing society.
Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation too has been mulling on a plan for all households to have water meters to check and prevent water wastage.