The Times of India               30.04.2013

Water meter proposal gets dry response from residents

These
cities include Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Varanasi, Allahabad, Meerut and
Mathura. The government has mandated that beyond a certain limit, a
person is liable to pay extra for per kilolitre of water usage. This
means that consumers’ water consumption would now be metered and they
cannot afford to misuse it. The initiative has been taken to regulate
water connections and bring all unregistered houses under the water-tax
net.

Jal Sansthan officials claim that a person should ideally
use 50-60 litres of water every day which includes household chores.
This can be extended up to maximum 150 litres water but people end up
wasting around 400 litres of water per head every day due to various
reasons like car-wash, room cleaning, leakage in pipes, open taps, etc.
“Meters are required to put a tab on such activities and would bring all
illegal connections under the scanner which were not paying water tax
to the government.”

The decision, however, has not gone down
well with the residents who feel that they are being imposed an extra
burden despite poor services. Aliganj resident Dr RK Verma says, “Being a
doctor, I can make out that water supply in our area is heavily
contaminated. The dissolved bacteria and germs lead to diseases like
typhoid, jaundice, hormonal problems in teenagers etc. We have to depend
on water purifiers and personal boring wells to get clean water.
Instead of just increasing revenues by installing water meters, the
government should focus on providing clean water to the public.”

Few expressed concern that they are not supposed to pay for dirty flow
of water since it is not being used. Amita Singh, a housewife from
Vikasnagar, questions, “Initial half an hour supply in our area always
contains sand and gravel particles which is not used and thrown away. We
have to wait for half an hour everyday to get clean water supply. Then
why should we pay for the dirty water? It is being forced on us.”

The officials defend the decision saying that the specialised water
meters come with a ‘gate-valve’ which can be installed near the device.
“In case of dirty water flow, consumers can turn off the valve and wait
for clean water supply. The device can be controlled manually,” said a
Jal Sansthan official.

Apart from the contamination, erratic
supply hours and shortage of water have also been distressing the poor
residents in few colonies. Ravi Bisht, a resident of C-block,
Indiranagar, says, “We have not been getting even a single drop of water
during morning shifts for last 15 days, we only get water during
evenings, that too only for half an hour. The water is usually full of
sand and stinks. Are we supposed to pay for this water?”

Water meter installation is a mandatory reform of JNNURM. Earlier also, Lucknow Municipal Corporation
tried to install meters in 2009, but failed due to opposition from
people who contended that mission should ensure 24-hour water supply
before metering the usage. A sum of Rs 22 crore has been earmarked under
JNNURM for this purpose in Lucknow and there are around three lakh
houses which need to be metered here.

Officials claim that the
funds would sustain installation of only around 80,000 water meters in
the first phase, which would preferably be done in Gomtinagar and
Indiranagar. They said that the first phase would take around one year
and after that, they would begin installing in other trans-Gomti
colonies like Vikasnagar, Mahanagar and Aliganj etc.

Jal Nigam
is currently evaluating tenders of various agencies who would install
water meters in houses. The process should begin in the next 1-2 months.

Info:

Water meter installation mandatory reform of JNNURM

Currently, water tax is calculated as 12.5% of the annual value of a property

Rs 22 crore allocated for water meters installation in Lucknow

Rates have not been decided, would be sorted out in the next few months

3,00,000 houses in Lucknow; funds sufficient only for 80,000 meters

First phase will cover Gomtinagar and Indiranagar

A person can at maximum use 150 litres of water per day but most end up wasting around 400 litres

In Lucknow, around 450-460 MLD of water is being consumed

Process should begin in another 1-2 months with Gomtinagar and Indiranagar

Piloting electromagnetic meters in Gomtinagar

Jal Sansthan is planning to pilot a new kind of electromagnetic water
meters in Gomtinagar. These meters are expensive, worth about Rs 10,000
per device, whose advantage is that Jal Sansthan staff does not need to
visit every house for meter reading; instead they can read meters of all
houses falling within 200-300 radius of that location. A normal water
meter device costs around Rs 2,500. Officials said that since these
devices are expensive, they would first see the feedback
of the pilot study. If it is found effective, then they would seek more
funds from JNNURM and install these devices in place of ordinary
meters.

Jal Sansthan expects revenues to double after installation of water meters

Jal Sansthan said that once water meters are installed in all houses,
their revenues would double. A senior officer said, “Presently, we earn
only Rs 60 crore as water tax every year. This is not able to meet even
our electricity bills which are close to Rs 40 crore every year. Once we
double our revenues, we would become self-sufficient to bear our
expenses.” The agency says that more than 30,000 houses use illegal
water connections which would be brought under tax-net through water
meters.

Quotes

“My major apprehension is that whether
these water meters would be able to calculate correct volume of water or
not, we are already paying so much for purifiers and electricity bills
of personal boring pumps.” | Dr RK Verma, Aliganj

“We receive
water only for half an hour twice a day. The force of water is so slow
that we are unable to fill our water tank in that period. Instead of
improving its services, the government is imposing a new burden on us.” |
Nirmala Mishra, Hind Nagar, Kanpur Road.

“The current
government has been either imposing a new tax or increasing the existing
tax for last one year. We are unable to strike a balance between income
and expenditure.” | Chandra Bisht, Indiranagar.