coimbatore the 247 drinking water supply project will ensure drinkingwater safety by preventing contamination a corporation official saidwater gets contaminated when sewage water enters pipelines due to leaks when supply is stopped vacuum is formed inside pipes and sewage water enters the pipe to fill the vacuum if water is supplied continuously there will be no room for contaminated water to enter the pipeline the official told toithe project will substantially improve collection of water charges as highquality meters are used an official involved in implementing the project said water charges collected by the corporation had increased dramatically by around 50 when meter reading was handed over to a private company a few years ago earlier corporation employees were involved imagine if the old meters which are less accurate are replaced with better meters and a mechanism in place for accurate readings there will not be spillage he saidwhile the financial burden on the civic body will not increase much residents will receive better services for instance the civic body had spent rs 47 crore for operation and maintenance for the 72 wards in 2011 the civic body will pay the private company rs 54 crore for the first year the costs are already defined the civic body would pay rs 169 crore for the 21st year which would be the last year the private company handles the systema central monitoring cell which will use supervisory control and data acquisition scada system will be set up to monitor the supply system the system will make it easy to identify issues and set them right the official added