City promised more water, cuts may go

Guardian minister Shivajirao Moghe announced at a press conference on Wednesday that reservation of water for Nagpur city at the source has been increased to 210 million cubic metres (MMC) from the earlier 190 MMC.

The increase of 20 MMC water will translate into 50 million litres per day (MLD) extra water on an average. This is good news for Nagpurians, as they can hope to bid goodbye to water cuts in the summer.

An official of the water supply department of NMC said that the decision was taken with a long-term plan in mind, to ensure that Nagpur does not face any shortage of water in the near future. The extra water sourced from the dams will be supplied to the city through the new 40km pipeline being laid under the Pench IV project.

NMC supplies 540 MLD water to its 28 lakh citizens. A large quantity of the precious resource is wasted in leakages or illegal connections. "Under the 24X7 project, we will repair leaks and replace old pipelines. The operation and maintenance will improve and the city will benefit," deputy engineer Mahesh Gupta said.

A separate company, Nagpur Environmental Services Limited (NESL), completely owned by the civic body, will have all rights to take decisions about water tax recovery, rates and manage separate water funds. A private operator will only look after supply, operation and maintenance, he said.

Moreover, once NMC's innovative project to recycle waste water and supply it to Mahagenco comes through, the city would get another 165 MLD fresh water from Pench project in the next two years. This will be enough to cater to a population of another 8,00,000 people.

Presently, state power generation company Mahagenco has reserved 127 MMC fresh water in Pench reservoir for its plants at Khaperkheda and Koradi. Of this, it hardly uses 67 MMC of water for its cooling towers. If NMC provides 110 to 150 MLD treated waste water for the same work every day, it could get the fresh water reserved for Mahagenco at Pench.

This will make an additional 165 MLD water available for potable use in the next two years, subject to irrigation department permissions. It is anticipated that the population of the city will reach 50 lakh in 2030, and the water requirement will rise to 940 MLD.

Areas in north and east Nagpur can hope to get respite this summer as 100mm pipelines will be laid in interior areas, and locations not covered by the 24X7 project. NMC also promises to improve house service pipelines to improve water supply in the city.