Bhubaneswar, June 20: The Public Health Engineering Organisation will conduct special drives to sensitise residents about the benefits of having pipe water connections in their houses.

A rough estimate by the administration reveals that nearly 35 per cent households in the city, particularly the urban poor, have not yet taken water connections.

In the absence of pipe water connection, the residents depend on the borewells and stand-posts installed either by the corporation or the health body at various parts of the city and fetch water from there. During summer, the organisation also supplies water to them through tankers.

According to the recent initiative, the health organisation's field workers will conduct door-to-door campaigns about the facilities and benefits of having pipe water connection. They will also disseminate information on the procedure to get the connection.

One has to submit an application, addressed to the executive engineer of the concerned circle, with a set of documents showing holding number, layout of the premises and future extension. On receiving this, the organisation conducts a feasibility survey and scrutinises the application. Then the applicant needs to execute an agreement with the sanctioning authority on a non-judicial stamp paper of Rs 10 to get the connection.

Apart from supplying safe drinking water, the awareness drive also aims to generate more revenue. The fees to install water connection vary between Rs 500 for temporary supply to Rs 30,000 for apartments. After that, the organisation charges money based on the water usage.

"Our officials will visit the municipal wards in a phased manner and sensitise residents about getting water connections. The primary focus is on the urban poor since they are the most deprived, which makes them vulnerable to various diseases," said superintending engineer of the health body C.R. Jena.

At present, the organisation supplies about 295 million litres of water to households every day against a requirement of 120 million litres. The requirement is calculated based on the per capita consumption, which is 150 litres per day per capita in Bhubaneswar.

"We supply enough drinking water against the present requirement of the population here, but nearly 50 per cent of it wasted because of leakages in the pipelines, water theft and illegal connections. We are working on fixing and reducing the wastage of water, and at the same time, trying to extend the connections to more houses," said an official.

Earlier this year, it was revealed during the question-and-answer session of the Assembly that only 24 of the 67 municipal wards of the city had complete coverage of water supplied by the health body, while the rest were partially covered.

Nine major wards have less than 5 per cent water supply, the reply of the then housing and urban development department minister, Puspendra Singh Deo, had revealed.

"Before sensitising citizens to get pipe water connections, the health body should ensure smooth and uninterrupted supply of drinking water to those who already have connections. They supply water twice a day for four hours each - which is not enough for big families like mine. There should be 24x7 water supply to the households," said Damana resident Biswaranjan Nayak.

On this, mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the residents would shortly get 24x7 water supply after execution of the major projects planned under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation scheme.

"We plan to execute about 38 drinking water projects, including laying pipes as well as constructing underground and overhead water tanks, over the next three years. This will ensure uninterrupted water supply to the households," said Jena.