Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Bhagirathpura water contamination tragedy in Indore has woken the Directorate of Urban Administration and Development from its deep slumber to ascertain the number of crossing points between water supply pipelines and sewer lines in all 413 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of the state.
As many as 2,30,000 intercept points have been identified across all ULBs. The identification will help chalk out better plans for the future. The data will help urban body officials carry out immediate checks at specific points in case of any possible leakage.
An officer of the department said that in Indore's Bhagirathpura alone, around 260 crossing points were identified between drinking water supply lines and sewer lines. In Indore city, as many as 30,000 crossing points were detected. Bhopal city has around 20,000 such crossing points.
GIS platform ‘Garuna’
The mapping of water supply lines and sewer lines was done with the help of the GIS platform 'Garuna.' If the water supply pipeline lies above the sewer line, there is no fear of water contamination.
When contacted, Sanket Bhondve, Commissioner Directorate of Urban Administration and Development, said that GIS technology will help enable timely intervention in case of any leakage.
Dr. Uday Roman, Team Leader, Amrit 2.0, confirmed that around 2,30,000 crossing points have been identified across the state and an action plan is being prepared to repair vulnerable pipelines. Data is being collected from all urban local bodies to identify 20-year-old pipelines. The final data is yet to come, he added.
Notably, following the Bhagirathpura incident, the Chief Minister had given a slew of instructions regarding water supply pipelines and ensuring safe drinking water. One of the directives was to identify 20-year-old pipelines in the state 14,661 leakages fixed
Meanwhile, 15,718 leakages in pipelines were detected across the state and 14,661 have been fixed so far. Under a long term strategy, if required pipelines will be changed under CM Urban Infrastructure development project.
