As per sources of Smart Water & Waste World, it has been proposed to constitute a National Task Force on 24×7 Water Supply under the chairmanship of Adviser (PHEE), CPHEEO having 9 members to disseminate the knowledge and extend handholding support (and capacity building) to States and Cities in India – including promotion of the national and international best practices.

India: The Government of India had launched the AMRUT 2.0 scheme to make the water in all cities secure and to provide safe and adequate drinking water to all urban citizens. One of its admissible components is a “24×7 water supply”.

All 500 AMRUT cities are mandated to implement 24×7 water supply in at least one ward or one DMA (District Metering Areas) with 2000 households. Projects costing up to 20% of the project fund allocation for water supply projects in AMRUT cities may be taken up for 24×7 water supply. Additional funding for such projects is admissible in form of reform incentives.

The Background
The Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO) – which is a technical wing of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Govt. of India – assist the ministry in the technical matters related to urban water supply and sanitation including solid waste management and stormwater drainage systems in the country.

Recently, the guideline for “Planning, Design, and implementation of 24×7 Water Supply” prepared by CPHEEO, MoHUA was released in December 2021. CPHEEO is now in the process of revising the Manual on Water Supply and Treatment, 1999.

As per sources of Smart Water & Waste World, in the continuation of the above developments, now it has been proposed to constitute a National Task Force on 24X7 water supply under the chairmanship of Adviser (PHEE), CPHEEO having 9 members to disseminate the knowledge and extend handholding support (and capacity building) to States and Cities including promotion of the national and international best practices.

This National Task Force on 24×7 water supply will have the following members:-

• Dr. M Dhinadhayalan, Adviser (PHEE), CPHEEO, MoHUA (Chairman)
• Dr. Sanjay Dahasahasra, Former Member Secretary, Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran, Mumbai (Member)
• P.K. Swain, CEO, Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO), Govt. of Odisha (Member)
• Dr. Mohan Kumar, Former Professor, llSc, Bangalore (Member)
• Prof. Sriniwas Chary, Director, ASCI, Hyderabad (Member)
• Ashok Natarajan, Former CEO, Tamilnadu Water Investment Company (TWIC) Limited, Govt. of Tamil Nadu (Member)
• Ajay Saxena, PPP Expert, Mumbai, Maharashtra (Member)
• Water Supply Expert – to be nominated – by GIZ (Member)
• Dr. Ramakant, Deputy Adviser, PHE (Member Secretary)
• Smt. Chaitra Devoor, Assistant Adviser, PHE (Member Coordinator)

The Terms of Reference (ToR) for the National Task Force (NTF) on 24×7 water supply are also prescribed.

Responsibilities and Tasks of National Task Force (NTF)

1. Hold stakeholder consultation and disseminate knowledge on 24×7 water supply to all the States/UTs and 500 AMRUT cities to enable them to envision projects under AMRUT 2.0.
2. Disseminate various components for implementation on 24×7 water supply brought out in the Guidelines for Planning, Design and lmplementation of 24×7 water supply and revised Water Supply Manual to be published by the Ministry.
3. Identify and study the national and international best practices of 24×7 water supply from the view point of effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, impact and share the success and failure experiences. The service delivery models, O&M, community engagement, institutional setup, and adopted technology will be catalogued, and lessons applicable to lndian cities will be identified and shared with the states and cities.
4. Support states/ UTs in establishing a State-level Task Force (STF) and City Level Task Force (CTF) on 24×7 water supply system and extend handholding support.
   5) Extend handholding support to states/UTs and cities in preparing City Water Balance Plan, Detailed Project Reports (DPR)s, and reduction in Non-Revenue Water (NRW).
5. Advise States/UTs and Cities in setting up Non-Revenue Water (NRW) cells in all 500 AMRUT Cities and disseminate knowledge on the installation of House Service Connections (HSC) and water meters.
6. Develop a model RFP for appointment of consultants to prepare 24×7 water supply projects and disseminate them to all States/UTs and Cities. NTF will also prepare model RFP for appointment of operator and disseminate the knowledge to states/cities.
7. Disseminate knowledge and best practices on PPP in 24×7 water supply in all states/UTs and 500 AMRUT cities and other cities which need it.
8. Empanel the technology providers for surveying, hydraulic modelling and consultants for preparation of DPR in the PHE sector.
9. Standardize the rate for works relating to surveying and hydraulic modelling, SCADA, etc and DPR preparation and request state/ UT PHEDs/ Parastatals to maintain uniform rate across the country and also for different regions.
10. Disseminate knowledge on GIS mapping and hydraulic modelling of water supply systems for field engineers.
11. Disseminate National Water Supply Management Policy 2021 being notified by the ministry and advocate States/UTs to introduce state-level policies.
12. Recommend emerging and innovative technologies for managing leaks, IoT for quality monitoring, SCADA, cloud management, control centers, GlS, metering, tariff, billing, and customer information systems.
13. Advise States/UTs and Cities to undertake the initiatives of capacity building, institutional strengthening of utitities, and facititating the twinning program for Cities/ULBs within and outside the country.
14. Mobilize the national and international investment firms to invest in lhe 24×7 water supply projects under PPP mode as PPP projects are mandated under AMRUT 2.0.
15. Impanel transaction advisories and operators for assisting the state/UTs and cities for implementation of projects through PPP mode.
16. Interact regularly with State-tevel Task Force (STF) and City-level task Force (CTF) and monitor the progress of 24×7 water supply in all the States/UTs.
17. Report the progress to the Additional Secretary and Nationat Mission Director (AMRUT), Govt. of India.
18. Monitor the city’s 24×7 water supply projects on a the web-portal which will be developed by CPHEEO to maintain data on digital mode and also monitor MIS on 24×7 water supply systems.
19. Take up tours to states/cities, once in two months or on a need basis for capacity building. 21) Any official or non-official including foreign experts can be invited/ special invitee by the Chairman of the National Task Force (NTF) may also form sub-committee(s) within, to examine theme-wise issues.

The duration of this National Task Force shall be initially for 3 extended till the mission period.

The State-level Task Force (STF) & The City-level Task Force (CTF)
The State Govts./UTs will have to set up the State-level Task Force (STF) and City-level Task Force (CTF) on 24×7 water supply for continuous interaction with the National Task Force (NTF) for scaling up of 24×7 water supply projects in their respective states/cities.

State-level Task Force (STF) will be constituted under the chairmanship of the Technical Head of the concerned PHEDs/ Water Boards/ Jal Nigams, etc of the States/UTs by including additional members from the concerned State/UT Departments, GIS experts, hydraulic expert and one member from State Mission Directorate or state Mission Management Unit (SMMU) of AMRUT 2.0.

The City-level Task Force (CTF) will be constituted for all 500 AMRUT cities. The CTF will be instituted under the chairmanship of the City Engineer or Superintending Engineer of the parastatals who is responsible for the implementation of 24×7 water supply projects in the city. ln the cities where Water Supply and Sewerage Board/ Jal Board/ Jal Nigam etc are implementing 24×7 water supply projects, the City-level Task Force will be constituted under the chairmanship of Technical Heads such as Engineer-in-Chief, Chief Engineer/ Engineering Director of the Boards/Nigams in the cities. The CTF will also nominate additional members from the concerned ULB/Parastatal, GIS expert, hydraulic expert, and in-charge of City Mission Management Unit (CMMU) of AMRUT 2.0 on similar lines of STF.

The duration of the STF and CTF will be initially 3 years and will be extended till the mission period on similar lines to NTF.

© Smart Water & Waste World. Send us your editorial contributions at mayur@smartwww.in