February 2 2016, 18.07 PM IST || Pocket News Alert
Bangalore, February 02, 2016: The second day of the 8th edition of the International Water Loss summit 2016 concluded on a successful note after witnessing a wide participation of international and national delegates who came together to address the most crucial cause of water conservation and the different methods of replenishing and sustaining water.
Water Loss 2016, is the most eminent conclave of water professionals, regulators and policy makers that aims at addressing the multi-faced challenges related to the loss of water and help organizations and water utilities battle with it.
The second day of the conference began with an enlightening discussion on water loss reduction and case studies focused particularly in Bangalore. Chaired by Prof. Mohan Kumar, the session - ‘Bangalore Experience’ gave a detailed account on how reduction in the Unaccounted- for-Water (UFW) to acceptable levels will result in considerable saving of water, thereby helping Indian cities in recovering the cost incurred towards providing the supply of water.
Speaking at the event, Mr. K.S. Renukumar, Assistant Executive Engineer, BWSSB, said, “In the Vidyanagar district metered area (DMA), in South-west Bangalore, we have reduced UFW from 51.33% to 14.53% and now we can expect to save expenses amounting approximately to INR 68 Lakhs each year. Following this, the cost for executing this project for this particular DMA can be recovered within 2 years but it needs continuous monitoring.”
Chairing an important panel discussion conducted on ‘Excelling in Management’, Mr. Norio Saito, Principal Urban Development Specialist, Urban Development & Water Division, South Asia Department & Asian Development Bank highlighted how conserving and recycling water is the need of the hour and how efforts made by the present generation will shape the future.
Speaking at the aforementioned session on ‘Reducing Water Loss’, Mr. Taqsem A Khan, Managing Director, Dhaka Water Supply & Sewerage Authority, said, “To reduce water loss, one has to look into the issue holistically as it is related to the policy and setup of the organisation. In our case, for reducing water loss, we restructured the organization which helped in successfully reducing water loss as well as sustaining it.”
The importance of ‘Water Balance’ was also discussed in one of the sessions. The conference also suggested that the industries needs to come out with its individual blueprint of water conservation and act accordingly.
The conference witnessed participation of over 100 International Speakers, 600+ delegates from over 45 countries and over 40 companies showcasing their technology in the exhibition.
-The first day of the conference also witnessed simultaneous panel discussions and paper presentations on a plethora of topics which included the session chaired by Mr. Ger Bergkamp, Executive Director, International Water Association, on Smart Financing for Cities to Manage Non-Revenue Water.
He added, “Industries should start reusing and recycling water. They have to engage with the local government and become water-secular economy within the industry instead of relying heavily on the local municipal bodies. Finally, Indian agriculture needs to be more efficient because enormous quantities of water is lost in irrigation and the energy industries.”
The afternoon session of the first day saw simultaneous sessions on International Case Studies, chaired by Mr. Gary Wyeth, MD, Wyeth Water Consultants; Apparent Losses chaired by Mr. Malcolm Farley and Logging and Modelling, chaired by Mr. Neil Meyer, Technical Director, WRP Pty Ltd.
Mr. Wyeth spoke about reducing non-revenue water loss efficiently & cost effectively in Melaka, and how the Melaka water company formed a Non-Revenue Water team applied the District Metered Area plan to reduce the NRW loss. Ms. Mai Flor, Executive Director, Waterlinks spoke about reducing water loss through water-operator partnerships ion Asian cities.
The CEO conclave focused on the theme of the event bringing in together leaders from Industry and Government. The session was moderated by Mr. Ganesh Pangare IWA Regional Director Asia Pacific and the panellist included representatives from IWA, Grundfos Group, NJS Engineering, L&T-ECC, Maharashtra Water Resource and Tamil Nadu Water Investment Company Ltd.
