Bachan Jeet Singh By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Remember the infamous sink hole that emerged a couple of years back right in the heart of the city at NTR Park? Though there was no human loss, it made a dent on the city’s image and exposed flaws in the sewage system. Though people forgot the issue, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) was quietly working to ensure such things do not happen in the future.

In an interaction with Team Express at the publication’s office in the city, the water board’s managing director M Dana Kishore revealed that his team has embarked on an ambitious project of mapping all pipelines --- water and sewerage -- using Geographic Information System (GIS). This will help in knowing the condition of the pipelines that pass under the ground. A “highly reliable and accurate” GIS mapping for 12,000 km of water pipelines and 6,000 km of sewerage pipelines is underway at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore. “Mapping of about 3,000 km of pipeline has been completed. The remaining is likely to get completed by November,” Dana Kishore said.

Pipelines, valves, joints, connections, all of them would be geo-tagged precisely and a web-based monitoring system would be developed to keep a tab on the network. This would help in monitoring the status and condition of the pipelines, check for pollution, and take appropriate remedial measures. Some of the pollution is because of the wear and tear in pipelines laid few decades back. To fix this, a contingency plan has been prepared to replace old pipes with new ones. This will be done in a phased manner. “About 900 km of rusty old pipelines cannot be replaced at one go. It will lead to inconvenience for public. The Board is currently doing it in a phased manner,” Dana Kishore said.

Using sensors, another 46 km stretch of pipelines have been identified as “dangerous” that could lead to formation of sink holes like the one that sprung up on NTR Marg. These are being replaced using new technologies like Cured-in-place pipe. This method requires no digging or excavation. As a result, it needs lesser time and money to fix the leak.

No more open manholes

Steps are being taken to geo-tag all the manholes to know their position and check if it’s covered or left open. Sensor chips will be fixed to the manholes. The control command centre will come to know if any manhole is opened

solar panels for power generation

HMWS&SB proposes to set up Solar Energy panels for power generation at the reservoirs for lifting the water. This will reduce the current power charges that amount to Rs 75 crore per month

Water aplenty this summer

There won’t be any shortage of drinking water in the city this summer. At present over 400 million gallons of water per day is being supplied to the city and there is sufficient water available to meet the drinking water demands. If there is further need, Water Board can provide additional 200 MGD

Two more reservoirs soon

Two reservoirs of 10 TMC each have been planned at Keshavapura near Shamirpet and Devalamma Nagaram in Chout Uppal. Keshavapuram works would start soon as the tendering process has been completed. For Devalamma Nagaram, detailed project report is getting ready

HUDCO Project nearing completion

The HUDCO project costing Rs 1,900 crore is nearing completion. It would provide much-needed respite to the residents living in peripheral area of Hyderabad as they would get drinking water on alternate days

WATER SUPPLY TO ORR VILLAGES

Managing Director said that works are going at a brisk pace to supply water to 183 villages and seven municipalities within the ORR limits. The cost of the project is around Rs 628 crore and would be completed by December this year and 75,000 new connections are planned