Udupi soon to get 24X7 water supply

Mangaluru: The government has approved a programme to provide water to Udupi city round-the-clock. Under this scheme, three works have been approved at a total cost of Rs 270 crore, said B S Balakrishna, deputy project director, KUIDFC, KIUWMIP-RPMU, Mangaluru.

The works include carrying the water from Varahi to water treatment plant (Rs 119.5 crore), treatment of raw water at plant (Rs 47.58 crore) and distribution of water to Udupi city 24x7 (Rs 103 crore.)

The Varahi river ( Kundapura ) has been approved as the source of water from where it will be carried to water treatment plant (WTP) through a 38.5 kilometre pipeline. After the treatment at WTP, water will be supplied to the entire city continuously, Balakrishna said.

The present population of Udupi town is 1,25,306 (as per 2011 Census) and the project is conceived for up to year 2046 with a projected population of 1,94,657. The present requirement of water under the scheme is 37.78 MLD and the project is designed for 55.34 MLD which will be the demand in 2046. The water supply covers 35 wards which have been distributed into 17 zones with 18,737 of house service connections. There is also a provision in this scheme to provide water in bulk to certain en route villages. All these water connections will be metered. This also involves seven overhead tanks. This entire supply and distribution system will be controlled and monitored by latest technology—SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) which makes the system very effective.

The contracts have been awarded to M/s Suez India Pvt Ltd along with with M/s DRS Infratech Pvt Ltd and the work will start soon after monsoon. The contractor is supposed to complete the work before July 10, 2022 and then the contractor will have to maintain the system for eight years at a cost of Rs 70 crore.

The state government envisages the introduction of an integrated water resource management to achieve the objectives which includes providing water to irrigation, agriculture, industry, energy, drinking water etc. In this context, Karnataka Integrated Urban Water Management Investment Programme –‘Jalashri’ is developed with the assistance of Asian Development Bank. This programme aims to institutionalise the mechanisms that contribute in urban context in managing increasingly scarce water resources in a holistic and sustainable manner. Also, it will modernise and expand the water supply system with strengthening the institutions to enhance efficiency, productivity and sustainability.

Extensive public consultations meetings are being held and will be held continuously until the project is completed to listen to the grievances of the people and address them immediately. People can approach DPD, through email jalashriduuru@gmail.com for grievances.

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‘Work as per standards or no work at all’

The water supply and distribution projects are of highly technical nature and hence needs to be executed with care and concern, maintaining the highest quality standards, said B S Balakrishna. “Several measures have already been taken to see that each and every component of work is executed conforming to respective standards and specifications. We have adopted a policy of ‘Either do work as per standards or no work at all.’ The quality of the work will be monitored at every stage and any lapses in this will be dealt with seriously. In fact, it has been made it very clear to all the engineers, contractors and the consultants that our job is to execute the work strictly as per standards and not to do the work and carry out rectifications,” he said.