Udaipur city is located in Girwa tehsil of Udaipur district. It has population of 4.

51 lakh (Census 2011) with

growth rate of 18% apart from floating population (mainly of tourists that goes very high during the winter
season). Lakes are major source of water supply to the Udaipur city that draws water from Jaisamand,
Fateh Sagar and Pichola, of which Jaisamand provides major portion of raw water to the city. Normal water
drawl and drawl in lean period is 89.33 MLD & 70.35 MLD respectively.

Water Abstraction for Udaipur city

Source Gross storage Water Supply with Water Supply with Drawl in lean
(Mm3) Normal drawl (MLD) period (MLD)
Lake Fateh Sagar 12.1 13.5 2
Lake Pichola 13.69 19.5 10
Tubewells & - 10.6 10
Bawadies
Lake Jaismand 415.25 21.65 21
Mansi Wakal Dam 24.41 24.07 23.35
Lake Badi 10.48 - 4
Dewas I 3.56
Dewas II (Akodari+ 10.98
Madri dams)
Total 89.32 70.35

Source: PHED communications

The key water issues that prevail in the context of the city include:
 Inadequate water sources to meet the increasing demands— both surface as well as
groundwater. Major component of water for city supply is sourced from lakes that are rain-fed
and low rainfall years have a negative impact on their water availability.
 The capacity of the lakes is reducing: capacity of the lakes has shrunk by a fifth of their original
size in last 2 decades because of silt and solid waste. According to a study carried out by Jheel
Sanrakshan Samiti, the capacity of Pichola is reducing by 0.93% and that of Fateh Sagar by 1.16%
every year. This is further aggravating the issue of water availability.
 The lakes are subjected to organic contamination. The Municipal sewerage lines
discharge directly into the lakes and thereby increase the bacterial contamination and
organic load. The 73 ghats situated on the banks of the lakes are traditionally used for
bathing purposes and for washing clothes. This releases large amount of detergents in
to the lake, which increases its phosphate content. Further, solid waste is also dumped
on the banks of the lake.

 Water supply infrastructure is very old in some areas resulting in water leakages and sudden
breakdowns. Due to undulating topography of the city, there are many low-pressure points
 affecting the water supply pressure at the customer end. The storage facilities also need
augmentation.
 Non-functional traditional sources tanks or baories in the city.
 Ground water availability in the district and the city is low because of the unfavourable hydro-
geological set up and geomorphological conditions.
 Ground water depletion: Growth of Udaipur city has resulted in reduction of ground water due
to excessive development and deterioration in ground water quality caused by indiscriminate
disposal of municipal and industrial effluents. Tube wells draw water from a limited aquifer. Most
of the tube wells have very low or negligible yield in summers when the demand is high.
 Water quality deterioration: Total Dissolved solids, Nitrate, Sulphate and Fluoride is above
permissible limit in walled city. In the effluent samples presence of heavy metal i.e. Zinc,
Cadmium, Manganese and Chromium above prescribed limit has been identified around industrial
area. Bacteriological contamination is reported in densely populated areas.
 Ground water development has already reached the stage of over-exploitation at 107%.
 The principal aquifers in Udaipur City are of mostly of hard rocks comprising phyllite, quartzite
and granite gneiss. Ground water movement in such formations is controlled by topography and
structural features through bedding planes, fissures, joints, solution cavities and other structural
weak planes. Groundwater occurs mostly under unconfined conditions. The main source of
recharge is rainfall. Depth to water level during pre-monsoon period ranges from 6 mbgl at Bichhri
to as deep as 36 mbgl at Sabalpur. The ground water levels along Ahar river, which passes through,
more or less, center of the urban area are comparatively shallow ranging between 6 mbgl to 14
mbgl.
 With the expansion of the city, over time, the water demand-supply gap has been widening.
Presently, water supply in city is every alternate day and water supply by PHED is 89.33 MLD. With
proposed projects and schemes the water supply (Dewas II) is anticipated to augment to 106.5
MLD. However, the proposed projects are still under construction and there is no increment in
supply of the city. The water demand-supply gap is provided in the following table.

Water Distribution gap of Udaipur city

Year Projected Water Demand PProjected Water Supply Shortfall in Water
(MLD) (MLD) Availability (MLD)
2011 115 89.32 25.68
2016 131 89.32 41.68
2021 146 106.52 39.48
2026 166 106.52 59.48
2031 213 106.52 106.48
2036 242 106.52 135.48
2041 278 106.52 171.48
Recommendations- Udaipur City Watershed

Udaipur city has been facing high water demand-supply gaps with increasing stress from shrinking
capacities of the lakes, deteriorating quality, leakages in the water supply infrastructure. This has also lead
to excessive use of ground water. Recommendations for Udaipur city are as under.

1. Water harvesting and conservation

The scope of artificial recharge is limited with district composed exclusively of hard rocks and the surface
as well as ground water level gradient being steep and low transmissivity. Under such conditions, there is
likelihood that recharged water will reappear as base flow. Water harvesting and conservation is therefore
a better option in the area. This can be done through construction of bunds, anicuts, contour bunds, gully
plugs etc and rooftop rain water harvesting structures.
Surface run-off generated, especially during monsoon season can be harnessed towards artificial recharge
and conservation of groundwater. The good groundwater potential zones are those endowed with good
soils and moisture retention capacity, where natural recharge is already taking place i.e. these are suitable
for groundwater storage with good availability of water below the ground. In some of such areas, water
tables have also risen over time.
.
2. Surface water storages
Water conservation structures, such as gully plugs, contour trenches, small check dams etc. may be
constructed. This will help in increase of soil moisture as well reduce siltation.

3. Rooftop rainwater harvesting

Rooftop rainwater harvesting is an important strategy for Udaipur city watershed given the built up area.
This also corresponds with the pockets of groundwater depletion and high evaporation Roof top rainwater
harvesting and its recharge taken up on a large scale will help improve not only sustainability of the
tubewells but will also improve ground water quality.

4. Demand side management through promotion of micro irrigation systems in agriculture

Certain locations are suitable for promoting micro irrigation as a key strategy for agriculture demand
management. The locations can be based on slopes, landuse and most importantly, areas with high
evaporation losses.

5. Demand side management- Metering and promoting water use efficiency

1. Water use in a judicious and efficient manner through adoption of demand side management
interventions such as recycle and re-use of treated water especially for horticulture, construction and
industries is an important strategy for Udaipur city watershed. Municipal- industry interface strategy
needs to be promoted.
2. Implementation of dual water supply systems that serve the needs of drinking water and other needs
to help in recycling water and conserving is also a relevant strategy. This is important to ensure
adequate availability of piped water supply that meets benchmarks of water quality, pressure, etc.
across the city. For Udaipur to emerge as the Smart City under the Smart City Mission the above is
important.
3. Further, it is important to introduce new methods especially smart metering for reducing loss and
energy consumption in water networks. This is possible by installing sensors in the supply system
that measure water consumption, water levels, and water flow rates on a real time basis. These
models will help in not only identifying and localize leaks, it would also assist to optimize energy
consumption in the network. Installation of smart water meters for measuring water consumption
more efficiently and providing water customers with data to help them monitor their water usage and
reduce costs. Assessments worldwide have shown water metering along with sustainable water
pricing as an important strategy for promoting efficient water usage
4. Treatment of municipal as well as industrial effluent so as to prevent ground water contamination
and also improve the quality of lake waters.
5. Strategy for reducing pollution in the lakes needs to be adopted. This also requires focus on diverting
sewage and wastewater drains presently opening into the lakes and establishing sewage treatment
plants at suitable sites.
6. Strategy to reduce siltation in lakes by carrying out catchment-area treatment to reduce silt load in
the run-off water.

6. Preserving important reservoirs

Finally, Jaisamand reservoir located in Udaipur district needs to be preserved as it is a key source of
water for meeting the demand. Hydrological assessment establishes that the location of Jaisamand
dam is in a hydrologically favorable area i.e. with high water generation (availability), high water
accumulation and low evapotranspiration losses, supported by topography.