Government Arts College witnessed a distinctive learning experience when SUEZ in association with the college’s NSS units, conducted an awareness programme for more than 100 students. The session introduced the city’s 24x7 Water Supply Project, showcasing its innovations and outcomes. Designed to inspire the younger generation, the programme emphasized that infrastructure is not a distant idea but a daily necessity—reflected most clearly in the assurance of safe, reliable water
Dr. Kanakaraj, Vice Principal-Government Arts College, opened the session with a straightforward, necessary reminder, “When students see technology serving people so directly, it changes their idea of what education can achieve. Water isn’t abstract—it’s survival.” His statement was met with keen interest, reflecting the students’ engagement and appreciation of the practical lesson.
Speakers then presented the project’s digital backbone. A GIS Base Map, assembled from high-resolution satellite imagery, now underpins the work; door-to-door consumer surveys have been integrated into thatGIS and every structure has a Unique Building ID. Comprehensive hydraulic modelling has been overlaid on the GIS mapping of the entire distribution network so engineers can see flows and pressure at a glance. On the ground, mobile and web-based applications are used by field teams for monitoring, meter reading, billing and customer services; every single water meter is 100% geo-tagged for accurate billing and asset tracking. At the command centre a SCADA system monitors supply in real time, while a Digital Dashboard displays live water supply status and DMA (District Metered Area) performance, and AI-driven predictive maintenance tools flag problems before they escalate.
“Families no longer need electric pumps or to buy water cans,” said. Sangram Pattanayak, Project Director, Coimbatore 24x7 Water Project at SUEZ. “Pressure is high enough to reach water tank placed at 2nd floor roof top directly from the service reservoir pumps that people once relied on are now redundant. That’s money saved, effort saved, and safety ensured.” It’s a practical sentence that reflects a lot of engineering work, more pressure where you need it, less tinkering where you don’t.
The outcomes are concrete. More than 90,117 households now receive 24x7 water supply. The system ensures 100 percent treated water reaches homes directly from the service reservoir. Continuous supply has pushed for direct kitchen connections has sharply reduced the need for bottled or canned water—translating into measurable cost savings for families. Real-time pressure management and continuous monitoring have contributed to a significant reduction in non-revenue water (NRW) and unaccounted-for water (UFW). Health indicators are improving too, with reported cases of water-borne illness on the decline. To support citizens, the project has set up a fully equipped Customer Facility Centres and a dedicated Call Centre for enquiries and service requests.
Mr. P. Gopalakrishnan, Team Leader, Project Management Consultant at InfraEn India Pvt. Ltd., summed up the design philosophy briefly, “It’s high-tech where you need it, low-maintenance everywhere else. There’s no dependence on cloud-based communication, minimal moving parts, and in the whole network the only operation a consumer needs to do is turn their tap valve.”
The session encouraged lively interaction with the students. The room filled with questions that bridged classroom theory and lived experience: why the pumps were redundant, how geo-tagging improves billing, and what it meant to have a Digital Dashboard tracking DMA performance in real time.” For many in the room, that felt like the real lesson, showing how infrastructure can earn trust and change behaviour.
The programme brought together NSS Program Officers Dr. R. Selvaraj (Unit 4), Dr. M. Ravi Kumar (Unit 2), Dr. B. Chitra (Unit 3), and Dr. Hemamalini (Unit 4), along with college faculty, SUEZ officials, InfraEn representatives, and over 100 students, creating a dynamic setting where learners and practitioners engaged in meaningful discussion.