name: VIJAY BHARGAVA


Email: bbscima_sky@yahoo.co.in


Organisation: SCIMA


Address: Delhi


Telephone: 09811733111


Fax:


Subject: MONITORING DATA & ADDRESSING ISSUES OF CIVIC AMENITIES FOR CITIZENS

Message: IMPROVING THE LEVEL OF UTILITIES IN URBAN AREAS

ADDRESSING ISSUES & MONITORING DATA  THAT CAN BENEFIT ALL CITIZENS



The urbanization is probably growing at a rate which is faster than the growth of economy. The need for space for residence, trade and commerce is high. This pace is cause of worry to the people who plan and control the utilities, i.e. Municipal Bodies and State Government. Utilities are High Investment Long Life (HILL) assets.



A substantial number of citizens have visited the developed World, which in turn has provided a different benchmark for expectations from utilities in urban areas. Expectations of individual citizens and commercial organizations are higher concerning the ‘Quality of Life’. The gap between satisfaction from utility services and expectations is widening.



This write-up presents ‘An Approach’ to improve the level of utility services in the urban areas of the country.



An urban area has many utility services. My purpose is to build a concept paper towards an approach to finding solutions.



For the purpose of discussion, only 4 utilities will be considered. They are :-

•       Power or Electric Supply

•       Water

•       Sewage

•       Drainage





Some would try to view the problems from angle of poorer section of that city. Administrators will think of budget, cost benefit and public reaction. Politicians would play the blame game with focus on vote bank (A major issue in recent U.P. election was Sadak, Bijli, Pani). Journalists will occasionally raise the issue based on some personal bad experience. Academicians do not give priority to such subjects. Therefore, at present, the problems rarely have a solution which will match the growth.





The social aspects, view points on economic issues and political attitudes undergo a change specially in a growing economy (in 2007). The continuity of utilities of urban areas is only through the documents. If they are updated, then the arguments by special, economic and political forces can be tested for feasibility.





STANDARDS FOR UTILITIES

Standards always help in measuring and therefore maintaining a level of performance.



Voltage of 220/440 volts and frequency of 50c/s are the known standard for power. Do the citizens know as to the standards set up by controlling agency for supply of water or taking away the sewage or ensuring that drainage facility take away surplus rain water. Does the drainage have sufficient gradient that all surplus water clears out? Does it have enough inlets into main drain? What is the frequency of cleaning so that drains are not clogged? Should the citizens/customers or users be concerned?



The stakeholders in an urban area have to request for setting up of these standards and publicising them. Based on such standards, the journalists or associations could remind the authorities well in advance before the decline due to overloading. Academic Institutes could participate in conceptualising projects, which have academic value and provide temporary or long term solutions.







There is little point in getting disturbed or agitated when there is minor or major crisis in system of utilities. Maintenance, specially preventive maintenance, is the key to the utilities performing to the set standards. At present, there are no standards or benchmarks. Crisis should be identified, when there is continuous decline in the accepted standards. The technical institutions of the city can take lead in suggesting standards.



COST INVOLVED IN BELOW STANDARD OPERATIONS

One aspect overlooked by designers and practioners of Accounting System is the changing environment and fast changing technology. Their insistence on recording the event/cost is based on ‘What has happened’.



Therefore, the accounting system of city administrations would record the cost which has taken place. It is most likely to happen that lowering the standards will increase the cost to the city i.e. Administration and Customers combined.



Let us take example of power. Voltage and time are two major variables in this case. Innovative people designed a peculiar product called voltage stabilizers. This ensures that the household and office equipments work and do not get damaged. What should be realised that every voltage stabilizer adds an inductive load, which lowers the power factor of the system. Academic study is required to assess the loss due to low power factor on Generation and distribution. I am sure that in the countries, where standards are maintained, the voltage stabilizer is not a commercially active product.



The non-availability of power has made customers install invertors and generators. Most of customers would be of the opinion that invertors are only capital cost. A substantial amount of energy is being used in charging the batteries. Consumers have no way of measuring it. For petrol or diesel generators, there is a cash outflow and therefore additional cost is limited to the no power or low voltage power period. The cost is in the expense sheet of individual consumer. The summation of this cost for the city may be substantial. The loss is equal to the difference of cost at individual generator and that at centralised generation. Management approach should be to see city as one entity, and then calculate the impact.



In the case of water, the pressure at which water is supplied is the major variable. We shall have to find out if there are any rules, regulation, practices or law regarding the pressure at which water should be supplied. The practice by users in most of the cities is to install ‘Booster Pumps’. The number could be one or more per consumption point. A one HP pump could add a lot of electrical load on the system.



If the pressure was enough to fill the storage tank at individual point then the energy used in running booster pumps would be saving to consumer and city administration. An academic study could bring out many hidden aspects.



Bad quality of water can create health problems. This (bad health) becomes a drain on individuals and systems. The water treatment plant may be available but neglect or overload will give bad quality of water. Every health epidemic is a substantial expense.



Occasionally there are reports that sewage water mixes with drinking water.  This is mostly due to bad maintenance or lack of knowledge about layout.  Disposal system is something where a lot could be done to use the output, specially in smaller urban areas. Capital investment in these areas can easily be justified. People have to think about it.



Memory does not have to be stretched to remember the condition of cities if there is a concentrated rain. The loss due to flooding of cities is substantial. The flooding is highlighted by media by showing misery of citizens and other stories of human interest. A couple of times articles may be written about drainage. When rains are over, the resources are withdrawn. The heads of accounts in which loss happens may not be existing in the books of accounts of individuals, cooperates, municipal body or Governments. The outflow, if any would be booked in some existing account head depending on the understanding and preference of the employee. Therefore, total loss due to flooding will never be known. These losses are avoidable.



CONCLUSION

The quality of utilities in urban areas is detoriating. A continuous and concentrated effort by various stakeholders is required to improve the condition of utilities in urban area. The question which is to be answered by knowledgeable people is :



“What quality of life should various levels of citizens expect in country with high economic growth?” How is it a management problem?





My suggestions are :-

1.      Concentrate on one or two utilities.



2.      Get support of press to allot space for regular reporting on selected utilities.



3.      Paid professionals to maintain Data Base of the variables. (area wise)



4.      Variation from standard to be covered in Press for various areas on fixed frequency.



5.      Estimate to prepare technical documents of existing status. Design assumption, load, cable size/pipe size. Layout etc. then a system for updation.



6.      Whether industry and trade will support preparation of such documents.



7.      Academic Institutions to identify the projects with academic value. Findings to be published by Press.



The repeated occurrence of information should result in attitudnal change of consumers, politicians,  NGO’s and journalists. This will, in turn, put pressure on administrators.



If this is successful, then each area can contribute to fund the updation of layout.



The academic study may also result in redesign and re-layout, say water system by new pipelines with sufficient pressure so that water can be filled in storage tanks upto a certain height without booster pumps.



I am of the opinion that this requires a managerial approach to study infrastructure to the structure of the utilities, which is the ‘Technical Information.’



The structure for above mentioned city-utilities is Long Lasting and the investment requirement is very high. Let us call it High Investment Long Life (HILL) activity. High Investment can be made at a certain frequency only and therefore the ‘Life Cycle’ has to be long. The life cycle of these structures could be in decades. If one assumes a generation to be 20 years, there will be change in the controlling persons every 2 decades. Therefore it is necessary to document the key details and preserve such document in a systematic manner.