As per a rough estimate there are about 25000 high rise buildings in Mumbai some of them up to 12-15 story and some up to 22-25 story. Apart from this there are about 50000 buildings which are between 4-6 story. If we add Navi Mumbai and Thane, Kalyan the figure may reach 40000 and 100000 respectively.

 All these buildings have an overhead tank to which the water is carried by electrically driven pump. The average range of the pump motors are from 3 HP to 30HP  as the case may be. As we see in Fig.1 even the water which is to be used by the ground floor resident has to be raised up to 20th floor i.e. we are spending 19 times more energy in it to raise it to that level. Similarly in the water which is to be used by the 10th floor resident we are pumping 9 times more energy in it. of the high rise buildings spend around Rs.15000 per month on electricity to pump the water. The 4-6 story buildings spend on an average around Rs.4000 per month on electricity. Thus the total annual electricity consumption of our city to carry the water to the  Over Head tank is about Rs.1200 Cr.

Suppose we make a system whereby the water is raised only up to the floor where it is to be used then we save all these wastages of energy ! It is possible if we adopt the HYDROPHOR SYSTEM .This system is a pressurized water lifting system which is largely used on ships. What we have to do is replace the present underground tank with a pressurized underground tank and install the required machinery with necessary modification in the plumbing. .

 As shown in Fig.2 using this system if we have to take water to the ground floor it needs to be pumped only that much energy in it which will take it to ground floor height. Of course design can be made in such a way that the water comes with sufficient pressure. Thus by adopting the Hydrophor System the average height that the water has to climb will be halved. This will bring down the electricity bill to half of the current value, a saving of whooping Rs.600 Cr. per year for our city! Though the initial cost of this change over may be more and some safety regulations may have to be deeply studied before implementing it ,the payback period will not be more than 3 years for the multistory buildings. These calculations does not include numerous commercial  and industrial complexes in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan. With their addition the annual saving may reach up to Rs. 800 Cr. easily.

Figure 1

Figure 2

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Lion S.K.Patel
mailto:trishulgroup@vsnl.com

Mulund(W)
Mumbai-400080
DC(Energy Conversation)
2007-2008
Dist323 A-2
30-05-07