Use Case 1: Water Distribution Network Guwahati

Challenges in the Guwahati Metropolitan area:

  • Water supply facilities cater to less than 30% of the population, for only about 1-2 hours per day;
  • Most of the plants and pipelines have outlived their designed life period and are prone to leakages leading to the infiltration of contamination;
  • Consumption of groundwater with heavy metal can lead to life-threatening diseases.

Scope of the use case:

  • The water distribution network of the Guwahati city is located in the west zone of Guwahati, the South Central Area;
  • The water supply area is split into 13 DMAs, and 4 of these DMAs (33km pipe length) will be considered for the LOTUS sensor analysis.

Key aims for improving water supply in the Guwahati Metropolitan area:

  • To increase water supply from 2 hours per day to 12 hour per day for Guwahati residents in the South Central Area;
  • To enable tap water to be consumed without further local treatment;
  • To reduce operational cost by 10 % and Non-Revenue Water (NRW) by 10 %;
  • To optimise chemical dosage by 10% with the help of optimal control algorithms and real-time sensing of residual chlorination levels.

How LOTUS will improve water supply in the Guwahati Metropolitan area:

  • The Guwahati Water Board is planning a major upgrade of the network with the long-term goal to provide 24/7 water supply;
  • The placements of LOTUS sensors will be optimised to allow the aims to be achieved at minimal cost,
  • The distribution network design and design standardization for intermittent water supply networks will be addressed.

Current developments:

  • 28 potential sensor locations in the Guwahati water distribution network, in the South-Central Area has been identified,
  • These locations have been verified physically and corresponding details regarding the location, connectivity, power, pipe sizing have been gathered.

Outcomes of Use Case 1:

  • Provision of a safe drinking water supply, without local treatment, free from water-based diseases.