Energy saving potential in municipal water supply & wastewater services

Electricity is a scarce commodity in developing countries. It is therefore most important to save electrical energy by avoiding wasteful consumption; which does not mean sacrificing, but maintaining standard services by consuming less energy with the help of energy efficient equipments; which in turn helps the environment by reducing the consumption of fossil fuels. This results in the reduction in operating cost to the Local Body. The saved electricity can be allotted to other needy consumers. Thus, it will solve electric scarcity up to a certain extent. Urban Local Body (ULB) consumes enormous amount of electricity to provide services to the citizens such as Street lighting, Water Supply and Wastewater Disposal, etc. On an average all these services consume 12% to 15% budgetary provisions to pay electricity bills, which amounts to millions of rupees. If ULBs save even a small percentage of (about 20%) electrical consumption, then millions of rupees can be saved which can be utilized for improving the services. This electricity consumption saving can also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as most of the Indian electricity is generated from thermal power stations. {If ULBs in developing countries are made energy efficient, it will help to reduce the impact on the environment globally.