As the Municipal Corporation gets set for providing 24x7 water supply in the city, there are apprehensions that the move will boomerang, leading to water wastage and increase in consumption. The corporation officials are however confident that the initiative will not spur wastage of the precious resource and will instead make people’s lives easier. The corporation has recently approached a Hyderabad based institute to seek consultancy for providing water supply round the clock. According to MC’s chief engineer SK Bansal, the endeavour would be to provide 24-hour supply in at least 50% of the city by this December. Pointing out that Chandigarh is already ahead in terms of the number of water supply hours vis-a-vis other cities in India, he said the corporation is already providing 16-19 hours supply every day in Sector 37 water works zone — covering sectors 35 to 43 — and 13-16 hours in rest of the city. Conceding that more water could lead to wastage, Mayor Pradeep Chhabra s a i d : “To avoid this we have to focus on creating awareness.” Janta Party’s Chandigarh unit chief Ajay Jagga is of the view that enhancing supply should not result in more consumption given the fact that even basic water needs are not being met in many parts of the country. “A periodical survey should be done after introduction of 24X7 supply to know the factual position of water supply,” he cautioned. Chief engineer Bansal claimed that the MC move would not lead to wastage. “If water is available 24 hours, people won’t store it in tanks or tubs and use the precious commodity according to their requirement,” he said. The corporation officials’ guesstimate is that the consumption could go up initially, but will stabilise within a month once people get out of the habit of water storage. Apart from enabling the corporation to provide better service, 24x7 water supply will help consumers plan their schedule as per their convenience,” the officials added. Citing the example of colonies, where the civic body has been providing round-the-clock water through public stand posts since last year, MC officials said: “We are getting a positive response there.”
PROS
Water availability in full pressure Uniform supply in most parts Less chances of mixing of mud in water supply
CONS Fear of water wastage Illegal users can benefit Repair work can take more time