KWA develops a mobile application to map the water supply lines in Thiruvananthapuram

The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) has developed a mobile application named KWA Geo App to develop a digital map of the water supply lines in Thiruvananthapuram. This will involve collecting details like the size of old and new pipelines, the position and number of valves, joints, frequent disruption areas, etc. Around 80 per cent of the data has been collected and is being compiled in the application by field surveyors and assistant engineers of 234 maintenance divisions and 14 project divisions of KWA. Moreover, geographic information system-based mobile applications like GPS Essentials and KoboCollect have been used for storing, managing, analysing, displaying and integrating the data to develop it as a map. Reportedly, the main water pipelines (with size of at least 500 millimetres) cover an area of around 800 kilometres (km) in the city, while the branches of the main pipeline are estimated to cover around double the distance. The data collection and release of the new map are expected to be completed by the end of 2024. This development will help KWA to determine the causes of water supply disruptions in times of water crisis.