Venkat Doshi

UM4000-2

Mehsana - Water Supply

Water Supply is one of the fundamental services for surviving and living. It is also a mandatory service to be provided by the Urban Local Bodies as per the 74th Amendment 12th Schedule. Mehsana has a projected population of 2,60,000 and requires about 36 MLD of water. The focus of the study was to understand the service from the Municipality's point of view, understand the difficulties faced, how they work, and how the national and state policies govern the development of a city. 
Finally, proposals were given based on the study to improve the service. 


Report Content

An overview of the distribution and supply of water in Mehsana.

The methodology with which this project was achieved.

The organogram of the waterworks department and how other departments are involved in providing the Water Supply Service.

The strengths and assets of the Water Supply Service of Mehsana.

While Mehsana Water supply Service has a lot of strengths, there were still some issues that they faced or would face. The area of improvements provide an idea on how to tackle the issues. Detailed proposals were given for the first two areas of improvement. These were selected based on urgency and need.

Proposal 1. Our observations on site and why it is critical to solve this issue and how to solve this issue.

The operational feasibility provides the various risks that are involved in executing the proposal. There are none that are major enough to make the proposal non-executable. Furthermore, this proposal would provide a benefit of Rs. 1.51 Cr every year for a one time cost of just Rs. 1.27 Lakh. Even if the benefits are just 1% of the calculated amount, it is financially feasible to execute this proposal. The benefits will be made clear by the year end.

Proposal 2. This proposal is to mitigate health risks that were observed in the field study. As a ULB, they should provide utmost importance to the health of the citizens. While currently, they are providing good quality water, there are still issues that need to be solved and the health of 2.5 lakh people should not be based on luck.

By simply modifying the current SOPs, they can mitigate the risks and have gr4eater accountability. There are three options that have been provided for one modification whereas only one option for the other modification. The costs are high and there are no financial benefits to this but executing this proposal is equally important.

From the various observations and how the policies are guiding the cities to operate, Mehsana requires a strategic goal. This is a road map to achieving that goal in a period of 5 years. The details of the first two steps are my proposals.