The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is planning to overhaul the decades-old drinking water supply system of the city in the coming years.
There are about 2.23 lakh house service connections as per the VMC in the city and the civic body claims to supply about 150 litres of water per head.
While the number of house service connections increased over the years, there are water pipelines that are two to three decades old and needed to be replaced and also more areas are to be covered.
To ensure that the drinking water availability is improved and to reduce the non-revenue water (or waste of treated water before it reaches the house taps) the civic body has taken up preparation of detailed project reports after conducting thorough studies.
Replacement of old pipelines, increasing house service connections, making the existing system compatible with continuous (24x7) water supply and management of water supply using technology are the other objectives of the project to be taken up after the preparation of the DPRs.
The project will be taken up under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT 2.0) and the 15th Finance Commission Grant funds.
Under AMRUT 1.0, the VMC took up the project of 24x7 drinking water supply in 24 wards and the remaining areas will also be made compatible for round-the-clock supply under the latest project.
VMC chief engineer M. Prabhakar said that under the new project water supply shortfall in extended areas of the city would be addressed and old pipelines replaced. “Last year, we have replaced 15 to 20-year-old pipelines in several hill areas, he said.
"In the coming five years, VMC is expected to receive Rs.300 crore from the Central government which will be spent to fill the gaps in the water supply system and improve it in a phased manner," Mr. Prabhakar said. Tenders for the preparation of DPRs had been called, he added.
