Hi-tech system to check water pilferage

More hitech jargon...how did they sell this to BWSSB...
-sas
Hi-tech system to check water pilferage

Hi-tech system to check water pilferage
S Lalitha, Bangalore, Oct 30, DHNS:

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has taken up a pilot prject that makes use of technology to identify points on its pipelines where water gets stolen through unauthorised connections, and also track leakages.

Under the BWSSB Act, those indulging in water theft could be punished with imprisonment for three years. This provision is expected to be effectively implemented from Nov 1. Bangalore-based Binary Core Software Technologies has been awarded the contract for the pilot study. The project has commenced on Avenue Road and the concern has already identified two leakage spots in the water pipeline. Assessment of the entire pipeline network in the area will be completed within a month.

“Almost 37 per cent of the water supplied through pipelines is unaccounted for, either because of thefts or illegal connections. This initiative is aimed at ensuring that the precious resource is not wasted,” said a top BWSSB official. The water supply department suffers revenue loss of several crores of rupees due to leakages. Plugging the leakages will therefore check the revenue pilferage apart from increasing the quantity, he added.

Technical aspects

The official said that Geographical Position Sensing (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) were being deployed to identify the leakage points. The Seismic Radar System can generally capture images using satellite up to a depth of 42 metres. “In the present case, it is enough to capture images up to a depth of three or four metres,” another official said.

As the exact point of leakage or theft is identified, there is no need to dig up an entire stretch of a road to detect the fault. This would in turn help in saving costs on relaying roads after the problem is fixed, the official said. Another advantage is that the system provides irrefutable proof of illegal tapping by just digging at the point, shown by the images. Another plus point is that the technology even reveals the dimensions of the pipe. “Hence, when a leaking pipeline has to be replaced, the new pipeline can be designed even before digging the road to remove the old one begins,” he said. The use of technology to detect leakages is a very costly venture, say officials.

However, if proven successful, the BWSSB has plans to adopt the system in different parts of the City.