Automatic control and pressure management prevents flooding, water loss and disrupted supply

Especially when dealing with water shortage, every drop should be managed wisely. Through a water system upgrade, flooding issues and critical water losses have been eliminated, and the city of Chikodi now receives continuous water supply.

By Peter Rajendran, Managing Partner of Evershine Enterprises

Chikodi is a town municipal council city in the Belagavi district of Karnataka, India. It functions as a subdivision of the district and has a population of around 40,000 people.
The water distribution network of the city runs on gravity with the river Krishna as its source. Raw water is pumped to the water treatment plant and is stored in a Master Balancing Reservoir (MBR) which is located at the highest point of Chikodi. From here, water is supplied to the network’s five service reservoirs by gravity.

The project objective
Initially, the city experienced a recurring issue of water overflow at the service reservoirs as the sluice valve was not closed in time. This led to a substantial amount of water wasted, not only causing lost revenue but also flooding of the nearby properties. The sluice valves had to be closed manually, and since there was no monitoring this was only done once the issue had already emerged and water was overflowing.

To the five service reservoirs, water supply was run manually, and all reservoirs were supplied at the same time. This meant that water was not distributed equally, as by the time the water reached the fifth reservoir there was always a shortage of water.
The AVK team conducted a survey and collected the actual demand of each service reservoir. Based on the survey, they designed and sized a one-way altitude control valve for each reservoir input and supplied them to site.

Immediate results
After installation of the valves it was seen that the overflow of the service reservoirs was eliminated as the valves automatically shuts off the supply once the required height is reached. The valve then automatically opens once the water level drops more than 1-2 meters from the set point. This means no water loss (and non-revenue water) due to overflow, no flooding of the surrounding area and sufficient water available for the fifth service reservoir. The upgrade has also eliminated the need for human interference.

Pressure management securing continuous water supply
Before the project, water from each service reservoir was not distributed equally to all service connections, as the pressure was high closest to the reservoir and declining on its way to the farthest service connections. To make sure that all connections always have sufficient water, and that the pressure is high enough, AVK also supplied pressure reducing valves to reduce and maintain a stable network pressure.

The AVK team did a pressure management survey and installed pressure reducing valves at critical nodal points. At the same time, sluice valves, air valves with isolation and butterfly valves from AVK were installed.

After installation of the valves it was observed that even the last service connection had enough pressure and that pressure was equal throughout the network.
AVK India worked closely with the contractor, Swastik Infralogic (I) Pvt. Ltd., during the installation and commissioning phases of the project, which was successfully completed by December 2018. The Project has helped the department of KUWS&DW (Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board) to successfully run the new solution in the water supply system, and all further tenders have been changed to smart systems like the one in Chikodi.


AVK Products supplied to the project

Sluice valves, DN80-250, 173 pcs
Air valves, DN50-80, 21 pcs
Wafer Type Butterfly valves, DN50-80, 21 pcs
Pressure Reducing valves, DN80-150, 27 pcs
One-way Altitude valves, DN80-150, 5 pcs

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