Jacobs helps to future-proof water infrastructure in Bengaluru, India

Bengaluru’s water and wastewater utility, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), earned the 2018 Water Leaders Award. Each year, the coveted Global Water Awards are presented at the Global Water Summit which was established in 2006 to recognize the most important achievements in the international water industry.

BWSSB was recognized for its achievements in implementing a range of performance enhancing initiatives and establishing a blueprint to secure the city’s water future.

Known as the information technology capital of India, the city of Bengaluru has experienced phenomenal expansion and population growth over the last 25 years. Bengaluru’s current population of around 11 million is projected to increase to 21 million by 2050. Supported by our water management team, BWSSB is responding to the rapidly increasing demand for water in the region.

Jacobs has prepared the Water, Wastewater and Asset Management Master Plan – 2050 for BWSSB. Driven by sustainability and resiliency, the master plan will guide infrastructure investment and asset management for the next 30+ years, and support BWSSB to withstand the future water challenges in a sustainable manner.

The plan delivers a range of measures targeting BWSSB’s operating performance, while at the same time addressing key challenges that must be overcome to secure the region’s future water supply. Key outcomes of the master plan include:

• Identification of a diverse, sustainable and climate change resilient water portfolio.
• Technology and capacity upgrade road map for network and treatment infrastructure.
• Up-to-date infrastructure condition assessment data and centralized asset inventory.
• Unified GIS platform that hosts consolidated network asset data from multiple sources and a template for further GIS data collection.
• Network hydraulic model to support daily operations and improved operational efficiency.
• Asset Management plan for major utility assets focusing on proactive asset maintenance.
• Implementation plan for master plan projects, including schedule, cost and risk planning, budget allocation requirements, public and stakeholder engagement plan and funding strategies.

With services delivered over a three-year period, 2015-2018, by a global team, the project delivery harnessed a global skill-set to deliver a solution that addressed specific local and regional challenges. The challenges include a non-diverse water supply portfolio (the current water supply is sourced from a single surface water source located 100 km away), over exploited groundwater, high Non-Revenue Water (NRW) (currently at 37 percent), polluted urban waterscape, multiplicity of stakeholders and aging infrastructure.

The local delivery team relied on the collective expertise of technical leaders from across Jacobs’ global water business to identify global best practices, and then adapted them to suit the unique climatic and geographic conditions in Bengaluru. The plan will play a vital role in supporting ongoing economic growth in the region and securing its position as an attractive, vibrant, modern and “liveable” city of the future.

“Every day, we work together with our clients to deliver sustainable and resilient solutions that achieve project goals while meeting the needs of the communities they serve and protecting the future health of our planet,” said Jacobs Global Water Director Peter Nicol. “I’m proud of the role our team has played in supporting BWSSB to secure Bengaluru’s sustainable water future and was pleased to be present when they received this prestigious award.”