Views By Mr. Arun Lakhani on Water and Waste Water Treatment

Posted by vil india on October 14th, 2016

Vishvaraj Infrastructure Limited did some research and we realized 89% of the total available water of around 890 cubic meter goes into agriculture, of the balance 11% goes to industry and drinking water needs are met. We need better management of water. The coverage of piped water, the metering of water and the adequate supply of 24 hours of pressurized water these are the three steps. So to bring first to the equitable water, we need to design the system, invest money into the infrastructure and more importantly have budgets to maintain it what we have already built.

Here’s what Mr. Arun Lakhani has to say: What is required is an integrated approach to water management, by integrated approach we need to see the complete water cycle as a whole. So we detect it from a source, then the treatment part then the distribution part then the customer service part. So if you have 24x7 in the distribution part that definitely improves not only the water quality & drinking water but also saves water. Then comes the second very important part is the sewage treatment. Sewage treatment and the reuse of sewage treated water complete the cycle.

The important part of Nagpur 24x7 contract is that it is very inclusive model. It provides for a tap in every household, irrespective whether it is in the slum area or the flat schemes and the bungalow area. Second thing, it is the sovereign rights are with the Nagpur Muncipal Corporation, the rights of connection disconnection, the rights to decide tariff to be charged to people: citizens and the ownership of all the assets remains with the Nagpur Municipal Corporation.

This is a joint venture of (VIL) Vishvaraj Environment Limited and Veolia Water France. It is a 50-50 joint venture with a joint management. They bring in the international expertise and knowledge across the globe and their experience which is very critical. I would say in half a year of 2487 water scheme for the whole of city is going on, we are a part of PPP, we have invested our part of the amount into the project almost 500 kilometers of pipeline changed. Over 100 thousands house connections have been replaced. First it was to bring equitable water distribution, some of the areas were getting two hours water and some of the areas were getting alternate day, some of the areas were getting 6 hours day water. So in these three and half years we have brought them to a minimum level across the city. Now we are converting area by area into 24x7 water. So out of the population of 25 lakh people 10 lakh people have been touched with an improved service. Fourth P that is the largest stakeholders the people, unless they are on boarded   and unless they become  part of the program and not just the user of the program it will always be difficult because communicating to them making them understand the difficulty and the benefits both. And giving them the responsibility of monitoring as well as communicating to the larger people, larger masses is essential.

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