6.1 Water Demand Management Strategy
The strategy proposed here should be considered as a draft strategy which will
require the support and “buy-in” of both the water utility as well as the different
funding organizations involved in the upgradation of the water supply in India. For
this reason, the WDM strategy has been restricted to key focus areas which are
essential to the efficient and effective management of any water supply system.
Wherever possible, specific recommendations have been suggested which will help
to improve the situation and must be implemented at some stage if any meaningful
progress is to be achieved. The WDM strategy suggested for the Indian cities is
considered to be both practical and methodical, concentrating on key essential
issues. Some of the key aspects that should be considered while designing a
demand-based strategy for sustainable water usage are:
District Metered Areas (DMAs)
DMAs are a pre-requisite for efficient management of any distribution system. It
enables the operational staff to monitor and manage the water usage and losses for
each separate zone. The international norm for the size of zone (according to the
code of practice of various countries) is between 2000 and 4000 properties/
households. However, at this stage, no minimum or maximum size of zone is
specified for Indian cities as this will vary from city to city.
Bulk Management Meters
Proper bulk metering is essential for efficient management and water balance calculations in a water distribution system. It should be noted that the team responsible
for the installation of any meters should develop its own standards in line with the
current Indian legislation in this regard (https://www.Pacificwater.org).
Domestic Consumer Meters
In most Indian cities, there are no domestic consumer meters in the water supply
system. All accounts sent to individual domestic consumers are therefore based on a
flat rate tariff. This form of billing often results in very high wastage and/or leakage at
the consumer level since there is no financial incentive to save water. Flat rate tariffs
should therefore be discouraged if possible and replaced eventually by a block or
step-tariff which is based on genuine metered consumption. It appears, however, that
domestic metering has been implemented in several parts of India with varying degrees
of success. While such metering would normally be the ideal solution to customer
leakage control, it may be premature to propose full domestic metering in many Indian
cities due to the expense involved with installing, servicing and reading the meters.
Pressure Management
Pressure management can be used to control customer demand and reduce leakage
in water supply systems. Under certain circumstances it is the most cost-effective
form of leakage control that can be implemented. However, for many small- and
medium-sized cities, it is not considered appropriate at this time since only a few
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K. Singh and S. Mahanta
The strategy proposed here should be considered as a draft strategy which will
require the support and “buy-in” of both the water utility as well as the different
funding organizations involved in the upgradation of the water supply in India. For
this reason, the WDM strategy has been restricted to key focus areas which are
essential to the efficient and effective management of any water supply system.
Wherever possible, specific recommendations have been suggested which will help
to improve the situation and must be implemented at some stage if any meaningful
progress is to be achieved. The WDM strategy suggested for the Indian cities is
considered to be both practical and methodical, concentrating on key essential
issues. Some of the key aspects that should be considered while designing a
demand-based strategy for sustainable water usage are:
District Metered Areas (DMAs)
DMAs are a pre-requisite for efficient management of any distribution system. It
enables the operational staff to monitor and manage the water usage and losses for
each separate zone. The international norm for the size of zone (according to the
code of practice of various countries) is between 2000 and 4000 properties/
households. However, at this stage, no minimum or maximum size of zone is
specified for Indian cities as this will vary from city to city.
Bulk Management Meters
Proper bulk metering is essential for efficient management and water balance calculations in a water distribution system. It should be noted that the team responsible
for the installation of any meters should develop its own standards in line with the
current Indian legislation in this regard (https://www.Pacificwater.org).
Domestic Consumer Meters
In most Indian cities, there are no domestic consumer meters in the water supply
system. All accounts sent to individual domestic consumers are therefore based on a
flat rate tariff. This form of billing often results in very high wastage and/or leakage at
the consumer level since there is no financial incentive to save water. Flat rate tariffs
should therefore be discouraged if possible and replaced eventually by a block or
step-tariff which is based on genuine metered consumption. It appears, however, that
domestic metering has been implemented in several parts of India with varying degrees
of success. While such metering would normally be the ideal solution to customer
leakage control, it may be premature to propose full domestic metering in many Indian
cities due to the expense involved with installing, servicing and reading the meters.
Pressure Management
Pressure management can be used to control customer demand and reduce leakage
in water supply systems. Under certain circumstances it is the most cost-effective
form of leakage control that can be implemented. However, for many small- and
medium-sized cities, it is not considered appropriate at this time since only a few
36
K. Singh and S. Mahanta