Central water management system among measures to improve supply

The move to a central water management system will help the GMDA have a larger degree of control over the entire distribution and supply chain from a single location, i.e. the upcoming integrated command and control centre.

The bid documents issued by the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) on March 1 detail upgrades to the city’s water supply infrastructure, including new water pipelines to be laid in developing sectors 58 to 115 and the introduction of a Central Integrated Water Management System (CIWMS). The bid document, copies of which are available online, lists the project completion time as six months.

Central water management system among measures to improve supplyPhoto by Ravi Kumar/Hindustan Times (HT Photo)

The move to a central water management system will help the GMDA have a larger degree of control over the entire distribution and supply chain from a single location, i.e. the upcoming integrated command and control centre.

At present, Gurugram’s water comes from the Mundik canal and a second Yamuna channel. This raw water is carried to the water treatment plants (WTP) at Basai and Chandu Budera, which have a daily operational capacity of 270MLD and 300MLD, respectively. There are also two boosting stations in sectors 16 and 51 to help overcome the difficulty of transporting water to eastern parts of the city, which is on higher ground than the
two WTPs.

According to GMDA chief engineer Lalit Arora, the CIWMS will help supervise the operations of all these facilities remotely. The authority will also collect richer data about pumping efficiency and energy expenditure via their Smart Water Analytics Platform. This, officials said, will minimise the amount of non-revenue water generated by the system.

These upgrades are part of the GMDA’s ‘smart city’ project, which include the introduction of ‘centralised processes’ to control and monitor water and traffic infrastructure, among others.

However, Gurugram is not officially listed in the National Smart Cities Mission, having missed the cut in 2016. Citizens have laid the blame for this on inadequacies, such as frequent power outages, shortage of water supply, traffic crisis, poor public transport, ineffective drainage and poor waste disposal.

The GMDA will have a pre-bid meeting on March 15 to help approved private contractors through the e-tendering process. Project costs have not been disclosed.