Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage (TWAD) Board aims at providing additional water supply of 600-700 million litres a day (mld), particularly to rural habitations, across the State through various schemes in about three years.
The board is implementing 36 schemes, including multi-village and combined water supply schemes, in various districts under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) to provide household tap connection in rural areas. Officials said that at present, about 2,000 mld of water was being supplied in various places except Chennai. This would be stepped up by 700 mld in three years, by when implementation of schemes would be completed. More habitations in various places across the State would be provided a water supply of 55 litre per capita per day (lpcd). Residents in rural areas are now receiving 25-30 lpcd.
Of the nearly 125 lakh rural households that were identified for tap connections, the TWAD Board has covered nearly 92 lakh so far.
“We are focussing more on tapping river-based sources for supplying water to rural habitations. We have covered nearly 73% of the households and are chalking out proposals to cover the remaining,” said an official.
Nearly nine schemes in various parts of Tamil Nadu, including Tirupattur, Cuddalore, Jolarpet and Erode, are nearing completion. Water from the mines of NLC India Limited would be sourced for schemes in Cuddalore. Work is in progress in delta districts like Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Thanjavur, and in several other places such as Karur, Virudhunagar, Erode, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli.
A scheme is being executed to provide water supply to habitations in Dindigul and Ramanathapuram districts using Cauvery river as source. A total of 45 multi-village schemes have been sanctioned under the JJM, officials said.
Tariff revised
In a bid to manage its mounting loss, the TWAD Board has also revised its tariff structure for water supply to rural and urban local bodies in Tamil Nadu since August.
While the tariff for rural local bodies is now ₹13.50 per kilo litre, urban local bodies will have to remit ₹16 per kilo litre. However, they are lower than the production cost of nearly ₹18 per kilo litre incurred by the TWAD Board, the officials added.
It is also improving the existing infrastructure through 56 retrofitting schemes in different districts.
This would involve replacing damaged pipelines, among others. The motor pumping capacity would also be improved, the officials noted.
