From Srinivas Sirnoorkar, DH News Service, Gulbarga: In a highly ambitious move, the State government has embarked upon ensuring round the clock water supply in three major cities of North Karnataka: Gulbarga, Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum. Encouraged by the success of the experimentation of 24X7 water supply scheme in the selected wards of the three cities, the government has given its green signal to the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), the 24X7 water supply scheme implementing agency, to go ahead with extending the scheme to the whole of three cities. With this, the people of these three cities will have the rare privilege of enjoying water supply in their homes round the clock. However, the facility to enjoy any time, and in fact, all time water comes with a rider that every residential and commercial dwelling will be fitted with water consumption meters and water rates will be charged in accordance with the consumption. The meters will be fitted free of cost to all the urban properties in the three cities. Under the Karnataka Urban Water Supply Improvement Project (KUWASIP) the 24X7 water scheme on an experimental basis is implemented by the KUIDFC with the World Bank assistance. According to official sources, the estimated cost of the proposed 24X7 for all the three cities is Rs 735 crore. The funding agency, the sharing of cost by state and central governments, ULBs, etc., are yet to be finalised.The sources maintained all the three ULBs have passed resolution urging the government to extend the scheme to the whole cities. The KUIDFC, which is the nodal agency of the scheme, had selected 29 wards in the three ULBs on an experimental basis in the year 2005. Gulbarga has the maximum of 11 wards followed by Belgaum-10 and Hubli-Dharwad eight. These 29 wards cover a population of over 22 lakh involving 23,655 properties. The number of water tap connections in the demonstration zones is 16,372 and they will be increased by 5,944. In Gulbarga, the 24X7 water supply is almost completed in the selected 11 wards and the same is in full swing in the two other cities. It is planned to complete the experimental programme by March this year and then go for covering the entire three cities. An amount of Rs 237 crore is being spent on the demonstration zone project in the selected wards. The scheme is being implemented with the public private participation. While the KUIDFC is the over all controlling authority, the priority investment works are implemented by the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWS&DB). The works in the demonstration zones are entrusted to the private operator Compagnie Generale des Eaux, France, and the Chennai-based Fichtner Consulting Engineers are the technical auditors. The quality and standard of materials used in the works is certified by a third party, the Mumbai based Bureau Veritage Industrial Services (India). Benefits The major benefits the citizens will get from the 24X7 water supply include: No need for constructing a over head tank on the roof or a sump under the ground, no need to pump water, no maintenance cost, and there will be no wastage of water. Water will rush on its own pressure up to 20 ft height and as such there will be savings in power consumption. And more than everything else, people will be relieved of anxiety and uncertainty over availability of water.