​​​​A two-day National Workshop for “Finalization of Revised & Updated Manual on Water Supply and Treatment”, was successfully organized by CPHEEO with the assistance of GIZ at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The Ministry held deliberations upon the contents of the Manual and obtain feedbacks/suggestions/comments from the States Cities and other stakeholders.

The Inaugural session was chaired by the Secretary, Sh. Manoj Joshi, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Dr. M. Dhinadhayalan, Adviser (PHEE), CPHEEO, delivered the welcome address and special address was delivered by Smt. D. Thara, Additional Secretary & National Mission Director (AMRUT).

Inauguration of National Workshop for “Finalization of Revised & Updated Manual on Water Supply and Treatment” by the Secretary, HUA at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi

The existing Manual on Water Supply and Treatment published in the year 1999 and Operation and Maintenance manual published in the year 2005 are used as guidance documents for planning, design and implementation of urban water supply systems under various programmes viz., AMRUT, AMRUT 2.0 and other State plan funds.

Keeping in view the advancement in technology and to address the major challenges in urban water supply sector, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs decided to revise and update the existing Water Supply & Treatment Manual by constituting an Expert Committee under the chairmanship of Adviser (PHEE), Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO) and in coordination with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

GIZ appointed WAPCOS as Study Team to draft the manual. The draft manual is prepared by the GIZ study team in three parts (A) Engineering, (B) Operation and Maintenance and (C) Management and the same has been approved by Expert Committee and reviewed by US water experts.

The manual provides guidelines for planning and design of water supply system based on operational zones and District Metered Areas (DMAs) to improve water supply services in the present intermittent water supply systems and to gradually convert to 24x7 water supply with Drink from Tap facility. The manual also facilitates guidelines for planning, design, operation & maintenance and management of water supply system based on GIS hydraulic modeling. The manual, thus, covers water treatment technologies for different raw water quality, water quality monitoring protocol, SMART water solutions, guidelines for operation and maintenance and management including financial & asset management, stakeholder engagement, PPP and climate resilient water supply systems, etc.

While delivering the keynote address, the Sh. Manoj Joshi, Secretary, MoHUA, emphasized upon the need for providing safe and reliable water with drink from tap facility, meeting the BIS water quality standards to every household in the urban areas of the country. He also highlighted the large amount of money spent as coping costs by households like having storage facilities or household treatment plants like RO, etc. He stated that the water should be supplied directly to the households for 24x7 so that no extra storage is needed as additional storage leads to more deterioration of water and more financial losses. The Secretary mentioned that the revision of manual after 25 years with latest technologies and design procedures shall prove helpful for the States and ULBs.  

During the special address, Smt. D. Thara, Additional Secretary & National Mission Director (AMRUT), suggested to include designing of water supply system for slum areas, mapping of human resource with the water supply system and women empowerment in the water sector.

Ms. Laura Sustersic, Project Director- India EU Water Partnership, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, during her address stressed upon gender aspects to be adressed under the ambit of manual.

The conference was attended by Technical Heads, Chief Engineers, City Engineers & senior engineers dealing with water supply in all cities, PHEDs/Corporations/Boards/Jal Nigams, Experts, PPP partners, manufacturing firms, consultants etc. About 300 participants participated in the Workshop.

National Workshop for “Finalization of Revised & Updated Manual on Water Supply and Treatment” by the Secretary, HUA at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi

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RJ