July 07, 2008	Monday	Rajab 3, 1429

KARACHI, July 6: With the help of a technical-assistance loan given by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a feasibility study is being carried out for devising a strategy to reduce the unaccounted-for water in the existing system of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.

The study on developing IT platforms for a tracking and maintenance system for the KWSB has been initiated under the ADB-funded Karachi Mega City Development Project (KMCDP) and it will be completed by the end of the current month.

Roshan Ali Shaikh, the project coordinator of the KMCDP, told Dawn that the study would help the KWSB in setting up a central control system through which the utility could know where the water system was working unsatisfactorily and required urgent intervention.

He said the system would later be linked with a GIS-based citizen complaint centre so that all complaints were logged, tracked and monitored from a single point through a centralised database.

The unaccounted-for water through leakages, wastages and illegal connections is creating a major strain on the provision of water supply to the people in the city. The study would also suggest effective ways of water management by reduction in non-revenue water.

Mr Shaikh said that much of the wastewater being generated in the city was discharged untreated into storm-water drains, and the study would also suggest innovative ways to solve this problem.

He said the water utility was trying to improve service delivery by making effective use of latest technology. The KWSB also intended to enhance efficient management control over operations and maintenance of water supply and sewerage network through the use of IT platform for tracking of the water distribution and sewerage infrastructure throughout the city.

The study would also suggest a robust, cost-effective and dependable supervisory control and date acquisition (SCDA) plan for the KWSB network through which the management of the water utility could remotely and instantaneously identify the sections that are affected.

The KWSB had installed the SCDA system in its K-III 100-MGD water supply project and the final study would recommend its extension to the whole water distribution network.

Mr Shaikh said that owing to population pressure, development and environmental concerns, the water and sewerage management issues had become increasingly complex and, therefore, the development of an appropriate IT platform would improve municipal planning, administration and management.