PCMC uses data analytics to streamline water supply

TIMES OF INDIA
4 FEB, 2021, PUNE

The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), which supplies around 500 million litres of water a day (MLD) to its residents, is using data analytics to plug leakages in the system through water meters.

While the metering system has been place for more than a decade, the civic body partnered with data analytics firm Cranberry since 2013 to run its water metering and monitoring system using geo-tagged meters, crunching supply data to various “water districts” in real time, and controlling supply to them using water data audits, and also finding leakages in the process.

“Using the meter system, we can count the actual amount of water consumed by each society or building, and with the data from water meters, we can also conduct water audits, which is the summation of all water consumed. We can also expand that for each and every water district and compare it to the amount of water supplied in that area. The difference of that would be the non-revenue water, which is either stolen, or goes through non-functional meters, or can also be leakages, and we can address that situation,” said Ramdas Tambe, PCMC’s joint city engineer for water supply, drainage and environment.

The firm said the situation they encountered when they started was difficult, with a lack of coordination between department, low revenues, and many disputes.

“The water department’s revenue was only around Rs18-Rs20 crores, and there were many metering disputes, non-metered connections, and reports of thefts. We addressed these situations with the help of various PCMC departments, and 15-16,000 unauthorised and non-metered connections were found. A system was then put in place to help people with water meters, and each of them was geo-tagged. On-ground staff, with the help of a mobile app, now capture the meter-reading and bill for each of the societies or buildings on the spot. Within a year, the revenues went up to around Rs33 crore,” said Shishir Thakur, co-founder, Cranberry.

Thakur added that the geo-tagged meters and data analytics are also helping to future-proof the area.

“If we know how much water is being consumed in an area and if it’s on an upward trend, we can figure out that population is going up in the area. It will give the PCMC an idea about the future water infrastructure needs in that particular area,” he said.

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