At present, a large number of water connections in Chennai lack effective flow meters to monitor supply. As part of the augmentation and rehabilitation of the water supply network in the city, the installation of flow meters at a pan-city level will be carried out. Using information generated from these meters, Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) will be able to better manage the supply of water in the city. To streamline the procedure in the billing of consumers for the water they consume, CMWSSB has proposed to install AMR (Automatic meter reading) meters with a wireless data collection system on a pan-city basis in two phases. In the first phase, it is proposed to install automatic meter reading (AMR) systems in 12,708 intensive consumer connections (using more than 500 kilolitres per month).

Subsequent household-level metering will also promote the CMWSSB’s aim of collecting a quantity-based volumetric tariff instead of the present water tax collected in the city. This will act as a deterrent to the wastage of water by consumers and reduce the amount of non-revenue water supplied.

After carefully analyzing the critical areas of improvement for Chennai’s water ways, the Chennai Smart City Project has streamlined the actionable methods towards improving water distribution in the city. The systematic actions taken on the basis of these methods will help the Chennai Smart City Project to achieve its goals. Critical solutions to issues identified in the ABD area: