Bhubaneswar, Oct. 26: Drinking water pipelines are set to reach almost every corner of the city with the public health engineering organisation (PHEO) planning to execute 32 projects to quench your thirst. But with many previously installed water connections lying defunct, the authorities have decided to make maintenance of these pipelines a priority.

The Rs 1.21-crore drinking water project will be implemented under the Centre's Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation scheme.

According to official estimates, the city with a population of nearly 9.5 lakh requires 120.62 million litres per day (MLD) daily, while the supply is almost double at around 295.30MLD. However, everyday 40 per cent of the supplied water is wasted mainly because of leakages. But learning from their past experience, the authorities have lined up a maintenance programme as part of the scheme. This time, therefore, the plan includes replacement of the old pipelines, installation of pump sets, construction of underground and overhead tanks and renovation of the treatment plant.

As part of the project, piped water connections have been extended to 33 out of the city's 67 wards. The remaining 34 wards are partially covered under the network. The new areas that have been made part of the plan include Unit-I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, Siripur, Badagada, Megha-swar, Bhimtangi, Baramunda, Rental Colony, Kalpana area, BJB Nagar, Gautam Nagar, Ghatikia, Jagannath Nagar, GGP Colony, Satya Vihar, Niladri Vihar, Bisra Nagar and Santal Basti.

The project, which is expected to be over by December next year, will benefit nearly 60,000 residents in the city. "The project will take water to almost every corner of the city. The focus this time is to bring slum areas under the water supply network," said the PHEO superintending engineer Chitta Ranjan Jena.

"We have identified the places that are yet to have drinking water connections. Our officials have drawn up the plan and submitted it to the government. The work will begin once the state government sanctions funds," said Jena.

A senior official said: "To address the issue of water wastage, we will replace the old pipelines with new ones."

The authorities have decided to spend Rs 12 lakh to change pipelines at Unit-I, Unit-II and Unit-III, while the cost for replacing damaged pipelines at Unit-IV, Unit-VIII, Baramunda and Rental Colony has been pegged at Rs 6 lakh. An overhead tank with a capacity to store two lakh litres of water will also be built to cater to the residents of Unit-VI and Unit-VIII. Two more tanks of the same capacity will come up at Jagannath Nagar and GGP Colony for Rs 3.50 lakh and Rs 3.15 lakh, respectively. Satya Vihar, however, will have a tank with a capacity of one lakh litres.

An official involved in the project said that Rs 7.13 lakh would be spent for the pipeline job at Kalpana, BJB Nagar and Gautam Nagar. Similarly, Rs 4 lakh would be spent to take water to 10 places at Old Town, while Rs 3.30 lakh has been earmarked to take water to 12 slum areas of Unit-IV.

Ghatikia resident Suram-ya Mishra said PHEO was yet to extend water connection to their area. "We depend on bore wells to fetch water for drinking and cooking purposes. We do not have any water supply from the government, and it would be great if they are including our area in the upcoming projects," said Mishra.

In March, the housing and urban development department had decided to provide drinking water connection for every citizen across to state by 2020. They have also decided to raise the per capita water supply from 135 litres to 150 litres every day in the city.

"The government is only making promises. A few months ago, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated several drinking water projects, including the stand posts. But, the one in our area is lying defunct right now. If the officials are executing more projects, they should ensure its maintenance also otherwise it is of no use," said Rasulgarh resident Tutu Baliarsingh.