With rapid urbanization of Nagpur, the water supply challenges also increased. Water supply was intermittent and ranged from a few hours a day to at its worst, just a few minutes. Losses on water distribution network reached almost 60% and water was not always in line with drinking quality standards.
To overcome these issues, in 2012 Nagpur Municipal Corporation choose Veolia, making Nagpur to be the first city in India with a fully pressurized 24/7 drinking water supply system. This concession contract was enabled under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban renewal Mission (JnNURM). The project is implemented through a joint venture company called Orange City Water (OCW).
The project to connect citizens in Nagpur with 24/7 water supply will take a minimum of five years as considerable infrastructural upgrade and replacement of the available assets is required. The assets remain the property of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, which is also responsible for setting up the tariffs.
As part of capex plan, OCW is going to lay ~600 Km of pipeline, rehabilitate/ install new water connection of ~450,000 over five years. OCW is operating all the five water treatment plants with combined capacity of ~750 MLD as well managing a water distribution network of ~3000 km.
This project will eventually connect every citizen including the slum population in Nagpur with 24/7 safe water supply which will be better in quality and pressure. This will also lead to reduction of water wastage arising from overflowing storage systems and open taps. As the network will be refurbished over a period of first 5 years, the water losses through pipe leakages will reduce significantly.
