About Us

The Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD Board) is a statutory body corporate constituted under TWAD Board Act, 1970 on 14.04.1971. TWAD Board is entrusted with the development of Water Supply and Sewerage facilities in the State of Tamil Nadu, except Chennai Metropolitan Development Areas. TWAD Board further expanded their horizon of service to include maintenance of major CWSS also into their domain.

The Organisational structure of TWAD Board is crowned by Dr D.Karthikeyan, I.A.S., Principal Secretary to Government, Municipal Administration & Water Supply Department as the Chairman, Thiru V.Dakshinamoorthy, I.A.S., as the Managing Director. TWAD Board functions are further propelled by the prodding encouragement and the captivating guidance of the Board of Directors comprising Senior Level IAS bureaucrats of Government of Tamil Nadu including Joint Managing Director, Finance and Engineering Director of TWAD Board. The Managing Director leverage the overall functions of TWAD Board with the fulcrum of support from Joint Managing Director and 3 other Unit heads placed at Head Office, Chennai:

  • Engineering Director looks after the functions of Engineering Wing.
  • Finance Director looks after the functions of Accounts & Audit Wing.
  • Secretary cum General Manager looks after Administrative functions.

The Director, Water Supply & Sanitation Organisation (WSSO) headquartered at Chennai functions under the fiat of centrally sponsored NRDWP. The WSSO has a full-fledged Communication and Capacity Development (CCDU) Unit at Chennai to disseminate information and enhance capacities in water & sanitation sector. The Project Development Cell (PDC), Project Management (PM) Wing, Contract Management (CoM) Wing, Mega Project Monitoring wing and Operation & Management (O&M), (RDT) Wing placed at Head Office under a Joint Chief Engineer each, spark the quest for excellence in their arena by expedient coordination.

There are four Chief Engineers one each head-quartered at Vellore, Thanjavur, Coimbatore and Madurai. TWAD Board’s prowess to perform is made possible with the persistent functions of the following District level Units.

  • 17 circle offices headed by Superintending Engineers.
  • 85 Divisional offices headed by Executive Engineers.
  • 258 Sub Division Offices headed by Assistant Executive Engineers.
  • 4 training centers, one each at Chennai, Trichy, Madurai, and Coimbatore.
  • 4 Material Quality Control Laboratories one for each Region at Coimbatore (1999), Madurai (2001), Trichy (2014), and Tindivanam (2014).
  • The network of 113 Water Quality Monitoring & Surveillance Laboratories.

The various units of TWAD Board harmoniously strive hard to fulfill the set goals and objectives envisioned under drinking water and sanitation targets of Government, which poses a huge challenge in view of the enormity of tasks ahead.

The network of 113 water quality testing laboratory services (1 State level, 31 District-level , 56 Sub District level and 25 Block level) throughout the State help to ensure water safety to the public. The Field Water Testing kit developed by this State lab is widely used nationwide at the community level, and help to promote awareness of water quality and health impact.

The Hydrogeology wing of TWAD Board endears scientific source exploration, exploitation, conservation, and management of the water resources including Rainwater Harvesting to enhance the sustainability of sources. The Hydrogeological Unit which professes the GIS and Remote Sensing Lab for various applications including mapping of water sources, preparation of block-wise Groundwater Atlas, Ground Water exploration and recharge study for the safe exploration of water resource besides R&D Activities.

The EDP Unit is spearheading the Information Technology based applications in TWAD Board and is also nurturing the cyber horizon. The information needs will be reliably met through a spectrum of web portals continually integrated through online e-governance systems indicated below:

  • The system developed with MIS base is implemented in the area of e-Tender, Project Management, CWSS Maintenance Information, Human Resource Management, Financial Accounting, Online Inspection Monitoring System (OIMS) etc.
  • TWAD Board websites and RWH Website are hosted for wider dissemination of information to the public.
  • TWAD Board Material Quality Control Information System.
  • Broadband facilities in all offices including Water Quality Laboratory.
  • Video conference facilities provided at 10 locations.
  • Project Management, Human Resource Management, Financial Accounting etc.

TWAD Board’s performance architecture attempt to take advantage of emerging opportunities and the newer environment by adapting to changes. TWAD Board plan, design, estimate and execute projects utilizing their in-house talents without outsourcing any of the vital functions. TWAD Board’s commitment to excellence in their activities constantly seeks continual improvements. TWAD Board is endowed with the following distinctions:

  • Recipient of many accolades and awards from International/ National Organisations apart from the State and Central Governments for their efficient delivery of services in the Water and Sewerage sector.
  • ISO 9001 certified Material Quality Control Laboratory at Coimbatore and Madurai and has proposals to upgrade with NABL Accreditation.
  • ISO 9001 certified State Level Water Testing Laboratory at Chennai and recognized as the Referral Laboratory for Tamilnadu by Government of India and soon to be upgraded with NABL Accreditation.
  • The recent implementation of Hogenekkal CWSS and Vellore CWSS.

Schemes Under Maintenance of TWAD Board:

Number of Schemes Under Maintenance
554
Beneficiaries (Civic status-wise)
Corporation Municipalities Town Panchayats Rural Habitations Industries / Commercial Organisations Population
11 72 349 53191 567 4.53cr

The provision of piped water supply even to rural habitations through CWSS with sustainable distant river sources insulated the rural populace from the vagaries of monsoon and thus pave way for the noble mission of water security.

Budget Details for the year 2021-2022

S.No Schemes Estimate
(Rs. in crores)
Budget outlay
for 2021-2022
(Rs. in crores)
1 Major Water Supply Schemes 11386.85 2205.90
2 Combined Water Supply
Schemes (more than one Local
Body)
36099.11 2189.28
3 Standalone Urban Water Supply
Schemes
3516.55 547.60
4 Underground Sewerage
Schemes
4110.14 357.52
5 Operation and Maintenance
Schemes
1147.53 327.43
6 AMRUT 3996.84 983.16
            Total 60257.02 6610.89