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Water Supply Management in Tourist Hill Town-

Case study: Shillong

Water supply in the hill towns is a major challenge because the resources
are more scarce and more fragile which tends to get disrupted with slight
ecological imbalances, the contours acts as an challenge for carrying
water from the source and again supplying in the distribution network.
The population of the hill towns show a rapid increase while the sources
of water remains the same. The crisis becomes more acute in the tourist
hill towns during the tourist seasons. Creating more and more reservoirs
has not been a sustainable answer to the problem. The tourist hill towns
are also facing this challenge of serving a huge population with its
limited water resources and physical constraints added up with the
pressure of tourism which comes up with high water demand during the
tourist seasons. The demand thus also fluctuates throughout the year.
Water harvesting is the way to conserve water in the hilly areas. The
information revealed that region has three areas as per water availability:
1. Areas having perennial water sources
2. Area having seasonal water sources
3. Rain-fed areas totally dependent on rains
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Water Supply Management in Tourist Hill Town-
Case study: Darjeeling

Significance of the Study

• To ensure sustained water supply for huge population, better financial management of water supply system is required.
The issue of the increasing amount of unaccounted for water poses a major setback to the cost recovery of the provided
services In India, the quantity of non-revenue water ranges from 15 percent to 70 percent of the total system input
volumes.
• Water supply in hilly areas becomes more challenging due to the physiographic conditions. Rapid growth in
population. The increased demand of water for the floating population during the tourist season becomes another issue
in the tourist hill towns.
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Water Supply Management in Tourist Hill Town-
Case study: Darjeeling
Objectives
• To improve water supply management in tourist hill town
• To study the present scenario of urban water supply system in
India
• To analyse the on-water demand of resident and floating
population in Darjeeling
• To study the physical, institutional and economic potentials of
the city for improvement in water supply.
• To recommend suitable strategies for comprehensive
rehabilitation and augmentation of water supply in hilly towns
Scope and limitations
The scope of the study will encompass the following aspects Water supply
infrastructure for municipal area and considering
• Water supply system management.
• Provision of supply for floating population.
• Recommend water resource and distribution network.
The limitations of the study are as follows:
• Study is more relied on secondary data acquired from respective
government institutions
• Restricted by non-availability of data
 Definitions and Concepts
• Water Supply system: A water supply system is the
system for the collection, transmission treatment
storage, and distribution water from source to
consumers, for example, homes, commercial
establishments, industry, irrigation facilities and public
agencies for water-related activities (fire- fighting, street
flushing and so forth). (Source: Glossary of Environment
Statistics, Studies in Methods, Series F, No. 67, United
Nations, New York, 1997.)
Improved water supply source: one that, by nature of its
construction or through active intervention, is protected
from outside contamination, in particular from
contamination with fecal matter. (Source: WHO and UNICEF
2011)
• Non-Revenue Water (NRW): This indicator highlights the extent
of water produced which does not earn the utility any revenue.
NRW total water produced (ex-treatment plant) - total water sold
expressed as a percentage of the total water produced.
NRW Comprises:
a) Consumption which is authorized but not billed, such as
public stand posts;
b) Apparent losses Such as illegal water connections, water theft
and metering inaccuracies; and
c) Real losses which are leakages in the transmission and
distribution networks.
(Source: Handbook of Service Level Benchmarking. MoUD)
 Water Management in Hilly Regions for sustanable
Development – Case Studies
• Bamboo drip irrigation in North-Eastern Himalaya One of the seven
northeastern states Meghalaya in India use an ingenious system of
tapping of stream and spring water by using bamboo pipes to irrigate
plantations. It is so perfected that about 18-20 liters of water entering
the bamboo pipe system per minute gets transported over several 100
meters and finally gets reduced to 20-80 drops per minute at the site of
the plant. The tribal farmers of Khasi and Jaintia hills use the 200-year-
old system. Bamboo pipes are used to divert perennial springs on the
hilltops to the lower reaches by gravity. The channel sections made of
bamboo divert and convey water to the plot site where it is distributed
without leakage into branches. Water is dropped near the roots of the
plant through manipulating the intake pipe positions to conserve water.
• Uttarakhand’s Naulas, Guhls – water for domestic, irrigation in
Central Himalaya This region is now facing problems in the storage
of sufficient water, especially during summers, for drinking and
irrigation purposes. Majority of the people are dependent on the
local sources of water (dharas- springs). Therefore, revival of
indigenous technology for rainwater harvesting, aquifer recharge,
judicious use of water, and quality of water is needed in this region.
Traditional methods such as naulas, guhls need to be rejuvenated
for water conservation and solving scarcity problem of India
 Definitions and Concepts
• Water Supply system: A water supply system is the
system for the collection, transmission treatment
storage, and distribution water from source to
consumers, for example, homes, commercial
establishments, industry, irrigation facilities and public
agencies for water-related activities (fire- fighting, street
flushing and so forth). (Source: Glossary of Environment
Statistics, Studies in Methods, Series F, No. 67, United
Nations, New York, 1997.)
Improved water supply source: one that, by nature of its
construction or through active intervention, is protected
from outside contamination, in particular from
contamination with fecal matter. (Source: WHO and UNICEF
2011)
• Non-Revenue Water (NRW): This indicator highlights the extent
of water produced which does not earn the utility any revenue.
NRW total water produced (ex-treatment plant) - total water sold
expressed as a percentage of the total water produced.
NRW Comprises:
a) Consumption which is authorized but not billed, such as
public stand posts;
b) Apparent losses Such as illegal water connections, water theft
and metering inaccuracies; and
c) Real losses which are leakages in the transmission and
distribution networks.
(Source: Handbook of Service Level Benchmarking. MoUD)