Coimbatore’s 24x7 water supply project to start service from August 2023

COIMBATORE: Coimbatore corporation’s plan to provide 24x7 water supply to 60 wards of the city from August 2023 is on track, said team leader for the project P Gopalakrishnan.
The engineer-cum-project management consultant said that the district already has 36 service reservoirs and Suez team is in the process of constructing another 32 such reservoirs. Laying new pipelines across the old city limits is also in progress, he added.
Speaking at a Coimbatore Vizha event on Saturday morning, the team leader and former TWAD board chief engineer P Gopalakrishnan said that work was on to start constructing the remaining 32 service reservoirs while explaining why they required another two-and-half years to start the project.
“The 68 reservoir distribution areas will further be divided into 108 district metering areas. We are approaching each metering area stage by stage and are in the process of changing service pipelines from the old system to new system,” the engineer said.
Regarding the work to change pipelines, he said this work is complete in R S Puram, in areas along Perur Road and in some areas along Trichy Road like SIHS Colony, Annai Velankanni Nagar near Sowripalayam and a few other areas.
Addressing the growing concerns regarding the privatising the water supply project, he assured that Suez was only a distribution agent, who was receiving water from the master reservoirs and distributing it to households. He said, “Though Suez will be collecting water bills, our cheques and money will be addressed to Coimbatore Corporation. Fixing of water tariffs will also be done by the Coimbatore corporation,” he assured.
“Once every drop of water used is billed and accounted for, the civic body’s revenue will increase and the increasing water usage charges will also be under control,” he added.
Promising a time when Coimbatorians need not construct large overhead tanks or sumps and the poor may not have to store water in pots, the engineer said this project will save money and water for people.
“We supplied 200 MLD of water for 13 to 15 lakh people which is more than government norms of 135 litre per person per day. In intermittent water supply, which is practiced now, many leaks go unnoticed until we lose lakhs of litres of water,” said the former TWAD chief engineer.
He added that now with water supply being continuous and monitored, people have an incentive to use water economically, and leaks can be detected and plugged instantly.