Nagpur city, located in the heart of the country, is the second capital of Maharashtra. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) provides water-supply services to the city of 2.5 million with an area of 217 sq. km. NMC, with the support of JNNURM, is moving from intermittent to continuous water supply. It has initiated a 24/7 water-supply project in public-private partnership (PPP) mode with Veolia Water India, on a pilot basis, in a zone with 1.5 – 1.75 lakh people and 15,000 house-service connections, including ten slum areas.
NMC supplies over 525 mld of water per day to the city, through about 22,5000 connections. The distribution network consists of over 2,100 km of pipeline with an intermittent water-supply system, which allows incrustation, corrosion and tuberculation of the network. NMC is now moving towards the provision of 24/7 water supply, in a pilot project with Veolia Water India in PPP mode through JNNURM. The process involves replacement of 100% house-service connection and meters. Old conservancy GI pipes were also to be replaced. Steps included:

• Rehabilitation of tertiary network
• Hydraulic modeling as per master-plan
• Installation of new billing system
• Customer facility centre

The pilot project for 24/7 water supply is in progress in Ram Nagar zone. A 60 km network of improved HDP pipes has been laid for distribution. 10,000 house service connections and 5000 slum connections are proposed, of which 7,000 connections have been completed. A part of the pilot project area (Bajiprabhu Nagar – sub zone) is now on the 24/7 water-supply system. This sub-zone has about 190 households and a slum area (Ambazari Basti) in which each and every house has a tap connection with 24/7 water supply. The total slum area has been provided with a bulk meter, leading to redundancy and subsequent disconnection of stand-posts in Ambazari Basti.
The intiative ensured sustainability based on long-term cost recovery of the water-supply system through comprehensive study and diagnosis of the system, and rehabilitation of the distribution network. House-service connections are being replaced, and customer metering and improved billing-systems are being introduced, with resultant reduction in UFW.

Water losses have been identified (technical and commercial), and leak detection in the bulk water-supply system has been introduced. The project has a 5-year operations & maintenance plan for the area.
Daily water-supply hours have increased from 4.3 hours to 24 hours, and consumption has increased from 440 m3/day to 504 m3/day for Bajiprabhu Nagar. Telescopic tariff and billing as per consumption was introduced to reduce water consumption. Pressure at consumer water-taps was increased from 2-5 meters to 10-12 m, resulting in energy-saving for consumers, as water does not have to be pumped to overhead tanks. The continuous pressurized network has avoided the contamination of water from the leaking house-service connections which were replaced under this project.

Slum areas also have 24/7 water supply services from the municipal network. Water quality in the pilot zone has improved, reducing the incidence of water-borne diseases.

UFW has already reduced from 69% in the zone to 33% in DMA of 144 regular connection and about 150 slum dwellers in Bajiprabhu Nagar DMA. The UFW will reduce further after the completion of slum connection rehabilitation.

The total billing volume of 137 m3/day has been increased to 338 m3/day (286 m3/day to regular consumers and 52 m3/day to slum consumers, against no billing to slums earlier). Experiences in customer interface will be utilized for the whole city.
For further details, contact:

Mr. Azizer Rahaman
SDE, Nagpur Municipal Corporation,
Mahapalika Marg, Civil Lines
Nagpur, Maharashtra – 440010
Ph: 0712-257044
Fax: 0712-2561584
Cell: 09823128270