With people’s support we can better water supply system in Nagpur, says OCW Director

Nagpur: Calm, composed, yet undeterred by criticism, and confident enough to draw excellence in water supply system of Nagpur, Arun Lakhani, Chairman of Orange City Water, has been spearheading the movement to streamline water distribution network in Nagpur for over 3 years. Hailing from a family that has high academics flowing through their blood, Arun Lakhani was quite inspired by his father who did his M.Tech from Banaras Hindu University, and later at IIS, Banglore. He too followed the suit and completed his B.Sc/Tech & M.Tech from LIT after pursuing his B.Sc. from Amravati. He did his school education in a remote village of Malkapur in Buldhana district.

Clearly a man of vision and a harbinger of change, Lakhani had to go through series of highs and lows during 3 years of journey with OCW, a 50:50 joint venture of Lakhani’s Vishwaraj Environment Pvt. Ltd.  and Veolia Water India Ltd, the world leader in water business. However, Lakhani has taken every challenge heads on and put the best foot forward in getting the best water supply system in the town. He however believes that a lot is needed to be done in the next 10 years, for which OCW is moving in the right direction.

In a freewheeling interview with Nagpur Today, OCW 
Director, Arun Lakhani spoke at stretch about the issues pertaining to 24×7 water supply scheme, essential metering for conscious use of water, the challenges and public resistance, sewage treatment for smart water management, his close to heart Ganga Cleanliness Drive and his professional journey so far. The excerptsIn the initial days of, Lakhani ventured into petro chemicals and brought in Maha Gas – the non-subsidized LPG cylinders. There they set up the smaller plants to reduce distribution cost. They partnered with a Dutch multinational and ran into a deal in 1998 to bottle commercial cylinders. However the project had to face stiff competition from subsidized cylinders, however it was disinvested to the multinational who run it under the name of Super Gas. Then came the opportunity of Roads and water and Orange City Water was formed in collaboration with Veolia Water France.

City has enough water
Lakhani is of the view that there is enough water availability for 25 lakh population of Nagpur, only proper system is to be put into place. The city consumes 450-500 MLD water on daily basis, of which, around 175 MLD is utilized for domestic purpose and 150 MLD goes in commercial consumption. Against this daily requirement, the city has the daily supply of 650-700 MLD of water, received majorly from Kanhan and Pench water reservoirs. “An effective distribution is required to cope up with uniform  equitable water supply across various areas of Nagpur,” he said.

Pressurized water system
Lakhani said OCW has initiated a 24×7 pressurized water system that ensures contamination free water to the consumers. With 24×7 pressurized water system, the water is supplied in full pressure that passes through the pipelines which are hundreds of years old. Pressurized water supply keeps contamination in check from the leakage points.

Challenges for 24×7 water supply scheme
Lakhani says one of the biggest challenges OCW is facing is the locating old pipelines and getting metered house service connections to various households. He said that for water security people’s support is needed. The Prime Minister on June 25, 2015 chose Nagpur’s 24×7 water supply scheme as the “Best Practice Model Project” in the launch program of Amrut scheme. He says improvement will be gradual and results cannot come overnight as against the 60 years of ULB implementation it is only 3 years with public private partnership. He also said that an educational drive like My City My Water campaign must be initiated to bring awareness among the general public and their long term benefits. He was of the view that media should play an active role in driving the city towards a reformation in water supply.

Sewage Water should be utilized for good

He said most of the sewage water, treated and untreated, is going waste without any utility and creates health hazard by contaminating fresh water bodies . A close look at the consumption statistics reveals that 11% of water supply is used for domestic purpose while 89% of it is utilized for irrigation and industries. If not for domestic consumption, the treated sewage water can be best used for irrigation and industrial purpose which adds to extra stock of water for domestic purpose. The sewage water can be sold to power stations and other industrial purposes as more than 80% of net water consumption is done by industries. He said the sewage water is being completely overlooked and almost 500 MLD of water which can be recovered from sewage  is not utilized.

NamamiGange – A Doable Project
Quiz him about Namai Gange – a national mission for clean ganga, and Lakhani gets candid in airing his views over the project, the one he is having keen interest in. Despite the odds and rituals making the project seemingly impossible to be accomplished, Lakhani appeared quite positive about the mission. He said the previous government also launched Ganga Cleanliness Mission but the project could not progress in right direction in the absence of accountability. This time, the mission has been kick started withpossibly  the private partnership model  and so the work is accountable. “Unless accountability is framed, the model cannot function smoothly,” he quipped. Citing the examples of Thames river in London and Danube river in Europe, which have attained 100% cleanliness, he said Namami Gange project can be better implemented with fourth P in the PPP – the people. The people are the protectors of any scheme in larger interest. Be it 24×7 water supply scheme in Nagpur or the Ganga Cleanliness Drive, he said larger communication is required for a project of 30 years. When asked if they would wish to participate in Ganga programme, Lakhani said if required from us, we would surely be a part of this noble campaign.

OCW’s on the course of its journey
Lakhani said that apart from proper funding, people’s support is also required for metering and pipe laying which will take their mission to next level in the coming years. “Water Projects are Social Projects “ A complete refurbishment and laying of pipelines is required to be done in the next 10 years. “We must have committed errors in the past but we still have positive bent of mind towards providing the city with the best water supply network.

Among the measures that were taken under OCW are 24×7 toll free helpline, online bill payment facility, GPS tracking of tanker movement to curb malpractices, annual tank cleaning by indigenously developed technology, old and complicated valves replaced and flow meters installed at crucial network locations.
Till date 180 kms of pipe laying has been done through horizontal directional drilling out of @ 500 kms. . Clarifying his stand over the increasing complaints of the dugout bylanes lying for days, he said that it was only to avoid the digging process. “One cannot dig the same stretch first for one task and then for other,” he said. He appealed that it is imperative for the people to get the metering done for the conscious use of water and lend their support in putting 24×7 water supply scheme on fast track.

This New is Originally Posted on NAGPUR TODAY

Commercially Viable Waste Water Management

India is home to the second largest population in the world. The steady population growth along with urbanisation and industrialisation has put a lot of pressure on the fresh water resources in India.Add to this the increasingly stringent environmental laws working towards sustainable solutions and we have a water crisis on our hands.

As a result, the demand for waste water management services and technologies is on the rise. Unfortunately, the existing services are struggling to match up to these demands thanks to lack of adequate investment, laws and R&D required in this segment.

We spoke to Mr. Arun Lakhani, MD Vishvaraj Infrastructure and expert in waste water management solutions for the Government of India to understand different ways of managing the water crisis.

Adapt to water sector PPP regulations:
For too long, the regulations for commercial water usage in India have been far too lenient, leading to wasteful and polluting use of water. Unmonitored commercial usage of water is one of the leading reasons for the current shortage in water supply and water pollution that plagues most urban cities.

Bring in the latest water management technology:
Waste water management requires high-tech plants, processes and technology. The past few years has seen the Indian market pick up on these technologies with the influx of multi-national companies bringing latest technology to India.

Currently, technologies such as filtration, softening, demineralisation (DM), ultrafiltration (UF) are regularly used for water treatment. But that is not sufficient to tackle the water management issue.

The time has come for companies to adopt the latest technologies such as Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) technology.

To put it in simple words, ZLD is a technology that helps plants meet discharge and water reuse requirements, enabling businesses to better manage water.

One of the examples of successful implementation of ZLD is the Tirupur project in Tamil Nadu. This was undertaken by Praj industries which offer ZLD and recycle and reuse solutions with advanced technologies.

Tirupur was facing severe pollution issues that were caused by textile industries operating within the region. The factories would discharge their coloured effluents into the surrounding water bodies that were polluting the water.

To tackle this situation, Praj industries decided to implement ZLD technology.You can imagine how grave the situation was, as almost 600 textiles units remained closed for almost two years.

By implementing the ZLD technology Praj industries was successful in solving the water pollution problem. Besides, they also found ways to cover the project cost too such as selling the treated water to the end users.

One of the reasons for a lackadaisical attitude of companies towards adopting these technologies is the high cost of acquiring and implementing these techniques.

However, given the fact that regulations will become stricter in the future, investing in technologies like ZLD will bring benefits in the long run.

As per Frost & Sullivan research firm, the Indian water and wastewater treatment market earned more than Rs 6,300 crore in revenue in the year 2011. This is expected to reach Rs 10,230 crore in 2016.

The market is on the rise for waste water management service providers with more and more companies adapting to better solutions.

As the fresh water resources are depleting it is high time the waste water management companies must shift their focus on incorporating sustainable, innovative and advanced technologies.

Final Word:
The waste water management sector is quite dynamic and it will only keep on posing challenges for companies offering these solutions. It is thus imperative that these companies keep incorporating advanced automation, technology and expertise to meet the public needs at affordable cost. It will go a long way in ensuring sustainable economic and environmental development.

Arun Lakhani Talks about Reusing and Recycling Waste Water

Water is a fundamental life component and a valuable resource. Around the globe various countries are facing water related issues, not the least India with its rapidly growing population and urbanization.

Unfortunately as the population of India increases, the scarcity of water has become a deadly challenge. The challenge lies in dealing with water scarcity while at the same time managing increasing consumption due to the growing population.

It is not as though we cannot fight this issue. One of the best ways is to reuse and recycle waste water.

The problem that we face today
One of the areas where we can start is agriculture. Using the drip irrigation method, efficient management of waste water is quite possible. A major obstacle in implementing this method is the un-organised nature of this sector. On top of that, the number of small land holdings is quite large that makes it more complicated and challenging to put into practice such efficiency measures.

At the other end of the spectrum urbanization has led to massive migrations form rural areas to towns and cities intensifying the problem of managing water requirements. The ever growing human density, lack of efficient conservation measures, industrialization and changing ecological environment is leading to an unprecedented change in water consumption patterns and the balance of demand & supply.

One of the reasons for such a situation is the lack of budget for local bodies to implement any waste water management methods. In addition to it, urban areas are becoming industrial hubs which have resulted in disproportionate usage of water. The conflict between agriculture & industry and rural and urban with agricultural sector is thus complicating the waste water management issue.

Probable solution:
To find a sustainable solution we spoke to Mr. Arun Lakahani, MD VIL and leading expert in PPPs for waste water management.

Lakhani says the way forward is to look at countries such as Singapore, Korea and even USA, not to copy their methods but to customize available technology to suit out ecosystem and requirements. These countries have adopted efficient and effective methods for waste water management which if used smartly would greatly benefit India.

One of the successful methods involves waste water being given tertiary treatment that will make it usable (in this case drinkable). This not only ensures that waste water is managed well but also utilized effectively & productively.

"Now, if we try to fit this process in India as it is, it will be difficult; more because of cultural acceptability rather than any other thing." Says Lakhani

So maybe the way to work around this is to take the treated water and divert it towards industrial use and conserving fresh water for domestic usage.