MGP monthly meeting held on water and sewage issues

Mysore/Mysuru: The monthly meeting of Mysore Grahakara Parishat (MGP) was conducted online on Aug. 9 and the discussion was held in detail about ‘Water and Sewage issues of Mysuru’. Assistant Executive Engineers of Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW) B.G. Vinay Kumar and B.A. Dhanush were present.  

Vinay Kumar said Rs.185 crore has been released under AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) Scheme and 80 percent of the works have been completed and by June 2021, extra water up to 85 MLD (million litres per day) will be made available in Mysuru which can suffice the water requirements of all areas including the new Layouts transferred by Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) to Mysuru City Corporation (MCC). 

“Currently 35 wards of Mysuru are getting water supply daily. Once AMRUT is fully executed all Wards will get water supply every day. Though water supply is designed to reach the first floor, that is up to 7 meters, at present due to supply constraints it cannot be achieved,” he said.  

Payment of water bills 

VVWW has introduced online and UPI mode of payment of water bills in addition to counter payments and at KarnatakaOne Centres. Shortly, payment by debit/ credit cards can also be made when the meter reader comes to any house, he added. 

The VVWW was given Rs. 50 lakh for Rain Water Harvesting (RWH). It is proposed to spend Rs. 20 lakh for artificial recharge of ground water. The rest Rs. 30 lakh is proposed to be distributed as discount to consumers who have done RWH at their own cost, officials said. 

MGP members suggested VVWW to harvest rain water in parks and trees along the road sides. VVWW has initially proposed to do RWH on Government buildings. It is also taking up one Ward in Mysuru as model Ward for RWH, they said.

RO Plants

The World Health Organisation and National Green Tribunal guidelines specify that Reverse Osmosis (RO) units have to be installed only when TDS (Total Dissolvable Solids) is above 500. But VVWW has already installed 40 RO Plants in each of the 40 MCC Wards and another 25 are under construction. It is planned to increase the mineral content or add minerals to RO water to make it healthier. It was decided not to give any permission for RO Plants in the future. 

Billing issues: Contact Ph: 0821-2411366

Consumers having problem in billing can contact the respective meter reader or the nearest billing office or VVWW Office or Call Centre on Ph: 0821-2411366. If the meter is found defective, consumers can inform the meter reader. The VVWW officials will visit the spot, test the meter and replace it at consumers’ cost, if found defective. While fixing the water meter, care should be taken to ensure that air does not flow freely. Water meters run when air passes through it. Consumers can contact officials of VVWW while fixing the meter. 

The process of fixing smart meters will begin by the end of this month mainly for industrial, commercial and non-domestic consumers. If a consumer registers his mobile number on MCC website, he will receive water bills through SMS. VVWW vigilance squad checks for unmetered connections or illegal fixing of water pumps and penalises offenders. Public can give complaints against any such violators and their identities will be kept confidential, they added. 

Sewage issues

There are over 2,500 kms of sewerage lines under MCC limits. The process of changing some old pipelines which are 6 inches in diameter to 8 inches is underway and would be carried out in a place where there are critical problems subject to availability of funds. 80 percent of the water supplied in Mysuru is handled by these pipes and they are finally treated at sewage treatment plants and supplied to non-potable purposes and gardening, the officials explained. 

UGD complaint? Call Mob: 94498-41196

Most of the houses in Mysuru do not have RWH and hence during rainy season, all the rain water gets into the sewerage lines and gets chocked. After the manual scavenging is banned, 12 jetting machines have been procured to clear chocking in sewerage lines. In case of any UGD blockages, consumers can call 94498-41196 and obtain a complaint number. The problem will be attended within 24 hours and for further correspondence, this complaint number should be quoted. Due to defective planning by MUDA and private developers, VVWW is facing problems in maintaining some lines and process of identifying such missing links and rectifying them is underway, they added.