Amid groundwater scarcity scare in Maharashtra, two little towns in the Palghar district of the state tackle infrastructural problems with a low-cost solution. Saphale, and Umerpada, in Palghar district, with a population of around 20,000, have become a model of how challenges like intermittent supply, water losses, deteriorating water infrastructure can be tackled at a reasonable cost.

The towns are currently provided with water from a multi-village water supply system. IIT Bombay’s ‘Shaft with Multiple Outlets’ has proved to be an intervention for improving the performance of the existing piped water distribution networks. The intervention consists of a new strategy of optimal water supply operation by use of scheduling and decentralizing infrastructure.

A press release issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology mentions that with the support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST)-Water Technology Initiative, IIT Bombay and IIT Madras, with the participation of local gram panchayat, have implemented the solution at the said locations.

These solutions will minimize the need for costly infrastructure components and improve the operation of the water supply system. Typically designed for a population of 2000 habitations, conventionally, Elevated Surface Reservoir (ESR), of half-day storage capacity, will require a cost of about Rs. 10 lakh, whereas shaft with multiple outlets will cost Rs. 2 lakh.

The adoption of the ‘shafts with multiple outlets’ system will save thousands of cores expenditures in the ongoing government’s Jal Jeevan Mission and other urban water supply systems. Apart from cost, the multi-outlet provision in shaft provides great operational ease, better pressure management, and better response to future population growth, mentions the press release.

This low-cost intervention, which has minimised the need for costly infrastructure components and improved the operation of the system, has been recommended by the Ministry of Jal Shakti for implementation in all the states as part of Har Ghar Jal under Jal Jeevan Mission.