The Deccan Herald 06.10.2010
BWSSB loses money on half of water it supplies
Poornima Nataraj Bangalore Oct 5, DHNS
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) actually bills only 53.53 per cent of water it pumps into the City’s distribution network, and gets no revenue on the rest.
In the recent reading being recorded in the 'Bulk Flow Meter' (BFM) for August, out of 28,888 million litres (ml) pumped and received, only 15,465 ml of water came into the BWSSB's account. The rest, 13,423 ml is being declared as the 'non-revenue water' which is being distributed to unaccounted users.
A senior BWSSB official agreed that only 50 percent of the water supply is billed.
"The rest does not go completely gets wasted. Water supply to BWSSB buildings does not come into account; we use water for our tankers, jetting machines, public taps and there unauthorised connections in the slums. There is a small percentage of leakage which is considered as a physical loss," he said.
Of the six lakh connections, there are nearly five lakh old damaged iron pipe lines that still exist in house service connections where unnoticeable water leaks.
The BWSSB is now laying water pipelines in new areas which are Medium Density Polyethylene (MDPE) with GA as sleeve pipes and are planning to replace the old pipes in future.
Bulk Flow Meters
However, the 'Bulk Flow Meters' (BFM) installed two months ago by BWSSB has helped them in curbing leakage and monitor uniform supply of water in the City. BFM helps in measuring the water supply and improves in equal distribution of water.
“Sometimes there are complaints of not receiving water supply; low pressure in the supply and sometimes excess supply. Such distribution of water can be monitored efficiently with BFM where meter reading can be monitored sitting in the office in front of the computer,” said the official.
Uniform supply
As many as 218 BFM being installed across the City where BWSSB is still in the process of analysing and trying to stablised the supply through its reading. Once a uniform supply is in practice, the Board is planning to install meters at division and later sub-division levels.
