No ban on new water connection, Mechanism set up to monitor disinfection of water with chlorine
Shimla: The Chief Secretary B.K. Agarwal reviewed the Water Supply situation in Shimla on Friday. He said that keeping water crisis of May 2018 in view, the situation of water supply and its quality is being closely monitored at the highest level of Government. This has ensured complete coordination among all departments involved in the water production and supply.
Agarwal said that for the first time the all the wards of Shimla are getting water supply daily and City is getting more than 48 million litres water daily. He said
“This is the result of replacement of old pumps at Gumma pumping station as well as in the pumping stations for Jakhu, Dhingudhar, Kamna Devi and North Oak areas. The Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam Limited (SJPNL) has replaced 14 kms of old leaking pipelines to reduce water loss.”
The Chief Secretary said that unlike the past, this year there is no ban on new connections, so far now 1489 new water connections have been given this year and 154 control valves have also been replaced to enforce distribution schedule effectively. This has not only increased the water availability to the consumers but also reduced the energy bills.
He said that the filtration systems at Gumma, Giri and Koti Brandi Systems are upgraded to produce clean water at faster rate. To ensure water quality, 20 water samples are taken from different locations for testing by the IGMC and water quality is maintained at the prescribed limits. All the storage tanks have been protected and locked and are being cleaned at least twice in a year in the presence of councilors and consumers, as per predetermined time schedule. With installed capacity of 54 MLD SJPNL has even lifted upto 60 MLD of water with above said measures.
He said that an elaborate mechanism has been set up to monitor disinfection of water with chlorine. The sewage collection and treatment has also increased by 100% from 7 MLD to 14 MLD. The SJPNL has set a target to extend the sewerage network to collect total waste water including kitchen and bathroom waste of all the households by this December. He said that SJPNL has implemented the volumetric billing, which has reduced the water bills of more than 50% domestic connections. The consumer data have also been digitized to issue online water bills with online payment facility from June onwards.
B.K. Agarwal said that Intensive IEC campaign initiated by the SJPNL has motivated consumers to reduce water wastage and report leakages. The SJPNL is regularly organising water conservation workshops in office complexes and larger hotels.
He said that woman groups named ‘Jal Sakhi’s’ have been formed to report leakages, overflows, misuse and other water related grievances to the SJPNL’s Grievance Redressal Cell. SJPNL has also set up a dedicated Grievance Redressal Cell to address the consumer requests.
Principal Secretary Urban Development Prabodh Saxena, Special Secretary IPH, Commissioner MC Shimla Pankaj Rai, Director Civil HPPCL Dharam Singh Thakur, PCCF, MD Shimla Jal Prabandhan Nigam, ENC IPH, Chief Engineer IPH and other senior officers were also present in the meeting.
