The Hindu              27.04.2013

64% revenue loss due to water thefts in city

The Non-Revenue Water Management (NRWM) wing and
anti-theft unit of the Kerala Water Authority, central region, has
reported a loss of 64 per cent in revenue because of water thefts in the
city. Non-domestic consumers account for the majority of such thefts.

The
authority has so far collected Rs. 19.16 lakh out of the estimated dues
of Rs. 22.86 lakh from the defaulters. Revenue recovery cases have been
registered against four major defaulters and the amount they have to
pay is Rs. 3.69 lakh.

At a major bakery in the city,
the connection was cut when it owed Rs. 59,108 as dues. However, the
connection had to be restored without recovering the dues. The bakery
now has an amount of Rs. 1.24 lakh as dues.

One of
the lodges in Kaloor has to pay Rs.1.39 lakh to the water authority. The
lodge’s connection was cut on November 22, 2012. It was restored later
but cut again in December. Another lodge owner has dues of Rs. 76,760.
This lodge was working on a domestic connection and in 2005, the meter
reader had reported that the meter at the lodge was in “not working”
condition.

Another lodge was functioning using three
connections with one meter not in working condition. This line was found
to be connected to a motor set. Water authority officials had to
confront political interference in this case before submitting their
report.

A hotel was found to use 534 kilo litres of
water while it paid bills for only 30 kl. Another hotel with two
connections paid bills for 78 kl and 41 kl but it has been found to have
consumed 297 kl and 312 kl respectively on each connection.

“If
the water supplied is all accounted for, the Kerala Water Authority can
come out of its losses”, said K.M. Siddique, assistant executive
engineer, who heads the NRWM unit here. Only 104 million litres (mld) of
water out of the 168 mld supplied is accounted for.

Of
the approximate 1.80 lakh connections in the city, the NRWM team could
inspect only 1,000 connections from July 2012. The team has been
conducting checks after getting information from meter readers.