TOTAL GRAVITY WATER SUPPLY SCHEME IN THE RECORDS

TOTAL GRAVITY WATER SUPPLY SCHEME IN THE RECORDS

Recently 156 villages Regional Rural Water Supply Scheme in Maharashtra has been placed in the LIMKA BOOK OF RECORDS. It is the largest Regional scheme in India operating under 100% gravity It is giving benefit of water supply to about 400000 souls in the saline track. Distribution of water is through house connections and thereby getting the higher level of service. Revenue collection is more than 80%of the assessment. The scheme is running in profit. A review of physical details are have been taken along with some salient features.

Background
Three districts namely Amravati, Akola and Buldhana are situated in the basin of River Purna covering an area of 4692 Sq.km. is mostly saline. The under ground water in this area is much saline and unsuitable for human consumption. This belt has covered about 812 villages from these districts. The 156 villages RRW scheme is meant to take care of the area /villages and towns from Amravati district.
The covered villages and towns are situated in Daryapur, Anjangaon Surji and Bhatkuli Talukas of Amravati District. In this area no sweet water was available except seasonal surface water of river. Purna, Chandrabhaga, Sapan, Bordinalla and Bhuleshwari are the main rivers. They partially fulfilled the requirement of drinking water. In past, most of the rivers were perennial and they fulfilled the total requirements of drinking water of all the inhabitants. Regional rural water supply schemes were executed for this area in the year 1964 to 1969 by dividing the area in five groups with different sources, such as Tube wells, supply wells, surface water with Treatment plant, Infiltration wells, with network of A.C. pipelines and service cisterns.

Since last few decades due to scanty rainfall all the rivers in the area go dry in early summer, which resulted in augmentation of sources, year by year. Number of tube wells and infiltration wells were constructed in command area. As per chemical analysis, quality of water supplied to the villagers from these sources was brackish, but there was no alternative source to fulfill the requirement. Network of service lines was of Asbestos Cement pipes. Number of leakages was a feature during supply and hence tail-end villages continue to suffer for a long period. It resulted in morchas and agitations by the thirsty villagers. Also, water supply was getting suffered due to pump failure, load-shading etc.

Operation and maintenance of all these Regional schemes was a tedious job and expensive. No special grants were available for maintenance of these schemes. Since beginning all these Regional schemes were under maintenance of Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran. Due to uncertain supply there was no recovery from villagers as panipatti. Also, recovery was the responsibility of Zilla Parishad, Amaravati. To avoid all these problems a scheme was proposed from Shahanoor dam as a source and having all metallic leading mains for 156 villages and two towns and was submitted to Govt. in the year 1997. Due to some technical changes and cost revision, it was approved in the year of 1998. Details of proposed schemes are given as below.


Anjangaon and Daryapur Towns

The covered towns i.e. Anjangaon Surji and Daryapur were served from individual schemes having supply wells on the bank of river Shahanoor and Chandrabhaga. This scheme was implemented in the year 1983 and 1970 respectively.
Due to scanty rainfall, original source of both the schemes resulted in very poor yield. Source augmentation was done by providing number of tube wells and other necessary pipeline and pumping machinery. Anjangaon Town water supply scheme, since its execution is under maintenance with Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran. It is having metered connections and Pradhikaran is collecting revenue.
Sources of Daryapur Town emergency water supply scheme i.e. number of tube wells were located about 25 km from Daryapur town, and the leading line from these sources, was of 300 mm diameter Asbestos cement pipe, partial Cast iron pipes, and partial PVC pipes. Due to number of leakages and failure of power supply, system provided erratic and unreliable water supply. Frequency of this supply was uncertain. Daryapur town water supply scheme was under maintenance with Municipal Council Daryapur. This maintenance was continuously in loss.
Daryapur and Anjangaon towns had the same source i.e. Shahanoor dam as that of 156 villages. It was not appropriate to have parallel lines from same source leading to two towns and to 156 villages. The treatment plants could also be combined.
Hence, both the towns were covered in combined water supply scheme. Combined water supply scheme was the only minimum cost solution to fulfill the daily demand with safe drinking water to beneficiary inhabitants with sufficient quantity of water supply. Government of Maharashtra had considered the combined water supply scheme proposal and it was specially approved for both the towns and 156 villages located in saline area of Amravati district. Irrigation Department approved the reservation of water to the extent of 12.45 MCUM in Shahanoor Dam, which is having a live storage of 45 MCUM.

Combination of Scheme: - Individual schemes were submitted for Anjangaon, Daryapur and 156 villages with source as a Shahanoor Dam. To avoid repetitions of Pipelines, treatment plant etc. combined scheme was proposed and the Govt. approved it. It resulted in saving of Rs. 82.63 crores, shown as below,
Cost of Anjangaon Town W.S.S. Rs. 31.58 Crore
Cost of Daryapur Town W.S.S. Rs. 44.21 Crore
Cost of Regional W.S.S. for 156 villages Rs.169.15 Crore
Total cost of the individual schemes Rs.244.94 Crore

Total cost of the Combined schemes Rs.162.31 Crore
Net Saving due to combination Rs. 82.63 Crore

To avoid the institutional problems of maintenance, Govt. approved the proposal to maintain the scheme by Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran. This has happened first time in the state.



Details of the scheme.

1. Source Shahanoor Dam Medium Irrigation Project.

2. Date of Administrative approval 15.10.1998

3. Date of Technical Sanction 09.01.1999

4. Gross cost of Scheme 162.31 Cr

5. Gross cost of scheme with Escalation 181.16 Cr

6. Designed Population (Urban & Rural) 424022 souls (2031)

7. Rate of supply for Anjangaon Town 100 to 125 lpcd
Daryapur Town 70 to 100 lpcd
Rural Part 55 lpcd
At consumer end
8. Reservation in Shahanoor Dam 12.45 MM3

9.Cost put to Tender Rs.117.52 Cr

10.Cost of accepted Tender Rs. 106.73 Cr

11 Contractor M / s Nagarjuna Const. Co. Ltd. Hyderabad

12.Hudco Loan granted / sanctioned Rs. 78.00 Cr

13.Time Limit of contract October 2004 With extension


Tender was floated for all allied works of this scheme. It included laying of pipe lines with cost of pipes, construction of elevated service reservoirs, treatment plant and other necessary works costing to Rs.117.524 Cr. Offer of M/s. Nagarjuna Const. Co. Ltd. Hydrabad was 9.18 % below and was approved by Pradhikaran being a lowest one
Before starting of work brief information regarding the scheme works were given to Hon. MLA, Sarpanch of all Gram Panchayats, all Panchayat Sameette Members, both Municipal Council members and Presidents of the councils, both Tahsildars, in the meeting held on dated 10.04.1999 at Maheshwary Bhawan Daryapur. Necessary land for construction of Elevated service reservoirs in the villages and towns were demanded to the members of concerned villages to avoid delay in starting the works, and huge response got in the meeting. Most of the Sarpanch handed over the open space for construction of reservoirs.
Bhoomeepoojan ceremony of this scheme was celebrated at the hands of the Hon. State Chief Minister and Hon. Minister WSSD on dated 26.05.1999





Sub Works of Scheme

1. Working Survey: Contractor carried out the working survey of all network with hydraulic designs, got it approved from M.J.P. Circle, Amravati.

2. Construction of Raw Water Sump:-A tapping to the existing canal at chainage 180 m was constructed by creating a separate head regulator and then leading main 900 mm dia. D.I., for about 90 m by gravity to 10 lakh lit capacity RCC raw water sump.

3. Raw Water Gravity main:- 800 mm dia D.I. K9 of 714 m length pipe line is laid from raw water sump to Water Treatment Plant.

4. Water Treatment Plant:- 50 MLD capacity water treatment plant is constructed near Shahanoor Dam with its all allied works. Also pure water sump of 50-lakh lit.capacity is constructed. Plant capacity of all the units have been checked for 20% overloading.

5. Principal Gravity Main: - From water treatment plant to all Master Balancing Reservoirs (MBR), Pure Water Gravity Main (PGM) of 900 mm dia DI- K9 to 150 mm dia. are laid. Overall length of pipes is 112 km. Only IVC sluice and air valves were used.

6. Hydraulic design was checked from Dr. Bhave VRCE Nagpur.

7. MBRs and ESRs: -11 no. of 25 m. staging height MBRs and 98 no. of Elevated Service Reservoirs having 12m staging are constructed in urban part and Rural part i.e. 156 villages. For proper zoning, effective maintenance and better services, minimum two outlets are provided to each ESRs and all MBRs.

8. Pure Water Gravity Main: -From 9 MBRs. constructed in rural part are connected with 250 mm to 80 mm dia DI and CI pipes to 98 ESRs constructed in Rural part. Due to metallic line network leakages are bear minimum. Also reliability of water supply is increased, and maintenance cost of pipeline is reduced. From the date of commissioning in 4-2002, water supply is uninterruptedly made available to all the beneficiaries.

9. Leading Mains :-From Urban MBRs to urban ESRs 450 to 80 mm dia DI and CI pipelines are laid for both the towns and length of laid pipe lines are 7.20 Km.

10. Distribution System For Towns:-450 to 80 mm dia CI pipe lines are laid in both the towns having total length of 77 Km.



11. Rural Distribution:-As per tender provisions only 122 km lines were proposed as a distribution lines which was quite inadequate. Detailed survey was carried out, during execution with computer drawing. All details are marked on drawing such as contours, roads, temples etc. As per detailed survey hydraulic designs are prepared on computers. According to hydraulic designs, length of 390 km for distribution system was found suitable. Hence, excess quantity proposal got approved from competent authorities. Sanctioned scheme was based on water distribution with public stand post. It is common experience that revenue realization in such system is quite inefficient. It was therefore proposed that, the distribution of water supply shall be on house connection basis and the comparative economics of the two types of distribution systems was worked out. Govt. approved distribution on house connection basis as a special case, being economical. The distribution system was then rearranged to individual house connections. Network of PVC lines are extended, so that each consumer can get the connection with only one GI pipe. It has increased the Level of Service and beneficiaries happily accepted to bear the expenditure of connection and other material. Govt. directed to collect popular contribution for increase in the level of service. Prospective consumers happily paid popular contribution of Rs. 100 per connection. MJP Engineers have done good IEC work in the villages and convinced the villagers about the policy. They also accepted to pay the connection deposit Rs.500 per connection. The charge of water supply was accepted at Rs. 50 per month. This was happening first time in case of Regional Water Supply Scheme.


12. Miscellaneous Works:-Construction of staff quarters, Rest houses, development of MIS system, installing wireless base stations, hand sets, mobile stations. Two Mahindra Jeeps and 11 computers were also procured through this tender for day to day activity of monitoring during construction and maintenance thereafter etc.

13. Ancillary works:- Providing Generator sets for occasional maintenance, anywhere in the pipeline, providing other machinery such as welding machine, power saw etc. were included in the tender and was procured.


Commissioning of the Scheme

The whole command area of the scheme is spread up in 3250 sq.km, hence, commissioning of the scheme was planned in to three phases. Anjangaon Town, Daryapur Town, Nimbhari zone having 7 villages and Daryapur Rural zone having 15 villages are commissioned in first phase. Yeoda zone 15 villages, Nandrun zone 18 villages and Songaon Zone 29 villages are commissioned in second phase. Khallar zone 19 villages, Arala zone 21 villages, Shingnapur Zone 23 villages and Mahimapur zone 9 villages are commissioned in third phase. From 25.11.04, Municipal Council Daryapur handed over the Daryapur town water supply scheme to Pradhikaran for day-to-day maintenance up to consumer, along with revenue collection.

House Connections in Rural area

During execution of scheme, at about every village Gramsabha was organized by MJP. During these meetings group discussion with the villagers were initiated regarding, functioning of the scheme, benefits of the scheme, proposed rates of water supply, time of supply and other difficulties during functioning etc. This exercise was carried in all villages to find out the demand, and their response regarding house connections. All villagers were very happy to pay Rs.500/-as deposit and initial monthly water charges at Rs.50/-. They also agreed to the concept of elimination of stand posts. For weaker section group connections were executed by sharing expenditure. All the connections are of only with 15 mm dia GI pipe to avoid leakage. Govt. had given the approval to the proposal of distribution based on house connection.

Main aim of the Gramsabha was to motivate the villagers for awareness and saving of valuable safe drinking water. Every consumer was ready to pay Rs. 100/- as a Lok-sahbhag as sort of popular contribution. Lok-sahabhag was insisted by the Govt. to ensure the people participation in the process of the house connections. Conceptually this is upgradation of level of service in water supply in rural area. At present there are about 17000 house connections in the rural area of the scheme. Deposits worth more than one crore are available from these house connections. Revenue from the rural area is more than 80%. Considering the cost of production, system in rural area stands in profit.

Main Features of the Schemes

1.The whole system is run by GRAVITY i.e. starting from canal tapping to consumer anywhere in the project area is totally on gravity, hence, power is not at all required.
2.Maintenance cost of the scheme is very less and RELIABILITY due to metallic lines is more than expected

3.WILLINGNESS TO PAY panipatti is highlighted due to increased level of service by way of house connections to every consumer.

4.AWARENESS in beneficiaries is seen about the saving and economical use of water. Availability of pure, sweet water has increased their HEALTH standard.

5.Execellent example of PEOPLE PARTICIPATION has been depicted by way of contribution of Loksahabhag at Rs.100/- per connection.

6.WASTAGE REDUCTION has been observed due to elimination of stand posts.

7.Existing underground 71 sources were abandoned. 505 H.P pumping machinery is now not necessary. An expenditure on energy, worth Rs. One crore per year, is not required now. There is an equivalent SAVING on electrical power.

8.INCREASE IN GROUND WATER LEVEL as extraction of water from underground is stopped.

9.Change in life pattern of the beneficiaries due to SAFE AND ASSURED WATER SUPPLY.

10.REDUCED MEDICAL EXPENCES have been reported in the recent survey conducted.


Innovative and environment friendliness of projects

156-village water supply scheme is 100% gravity scheme. It does not require any energy. Topography has been fully utilized. It is first one of its kind. Hence, implementation of hydraulics created new challenges. Total fall is more than 120 m. It is having huge velocity creation due to acceleration as the run time is also much more. Longest stretch on the main is more than 60km. To control gravity was main problem. New method was introduced with having a fine control on the system and it was fixed at the salient location on the line. It was found successful. Even with large gradient, water at the topmost MBR can be maintained at or near the FSL. This is the key to the unique operation of the system. System pressures are retained. Last village from MBR, also gets the water by pressure. Technology of control on gravity was developed for this scheme and applied. System runs 24 hours and is always full. There is no air locking.

Total area of influence of the project is 3250 sq.km. When there is water above LSL in MBR at TP hydraulics at all the points in the system is operating as designed. Supply to the villages is not continuous but it is given presently at one time. It has capacity to double the supply over a period. However, system remains always full. Technically, it is said to have attained the TRASFORMER status. Anytime desired quantity can be drawn at any point. The MJP engineers have achieved this and it is the unique technical feature of the scheme.


Maintenance of the Scheme

The scheme is under maintenance with Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran Works Division Daryapur having three sub divisions .Day to day supply is made available to the consumers in the morning at 6.0 to 6.30 am daily. All networks are controlled with the help of wireless stations. A new approach to the maintenance of the Full gravity scheme has been developed. It has been found to be working very satisfactorily. 120 m is the fall from treatment works to Daryapur. Whole system operates under huge water pressure. At salient points master controls are installed. The effect of acceleration is tried to be nullified by maintaining design pressures at the control points. System runs 24 hours. In spite of huge fall in the system, Master sump at the highest level, is always full. It maintains the hydraulics as designed.
Staff required for day-to-day maintenance was already with MJP for operation and maintenance of old Six Regional schemes. MJP personnel are collecting revenue from consumers. Computerized bills are distributed to the consumers. Due to stoppage of pumping underground water, services of all pump operators are diverted to carry out billing and collection .
Presently plumbing and piping works are executed by MJP. This is to avoid probable damages of main lines. Cost of material for house connection is borne by consumer except service saddle. Pradhikaran provides Service saddles. Saddle is of Supreme make to avoid leakages and keeping uniformity.

UNIQUE FEATURES OF THE SCHEME

Largest Regional scheme in Maharashtra.
RRWS with maximum cost in Maharashtra.
Whole project area in SALINE TRACK.
TOTAL GRAVITY, first in India of its size.
Rational distribution on house connection basis. First of its kind.
Unique example of people participation.
Pradhikaran entering first time into maintenance upto consumer in rural area.
Pradhikaran getting revenue from individual houses in rural area.
Most reliable being gravity.
Less expenses being gravity.
Profit making right in the first year for rural part.
Highest HUDCO loan to any RRWS in Maharashtra.
Self-sufficient to run O&M.
Acceptance by people has reflected in more than 95% recovery.

All features are unique and taken collectively, have become eligible for entering into the records.

Unforgettable contributions

All concerned public representatives.
Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran, Engineers and staff.
Nagarjun Construction Co. Management and staff.
Dr.Ingale,
Dr.Bhave,
Dr.Mohan,
Dr.Dhgabadgaonkar,
Dr.Kulkarni,
Prathmesh Consultants,
Electrosteel Ltd.
IVI
Supreme
And all beneficiaries

With continuous and untiring efforts of Engineers and staff, the scheme is completed. It has been upheld and supported by all Public representatives and officers at all high level. They have encouraged the happening, the new things to happen and perhaps the scheme can prove be a good model of Technoeconomical pattern having a full and willing response of the beneficiaries.

Thanks to all those, who have been well wishers of the scheme and have contributed directly and indirectly to the completion of the schemes and also in successful operation of the scheme.