The Hindu    17.08.2012

Water board to account for every drop

The Water Board has decided to assess the unaccounted for water supplied to consumers in a bid to plug the revenue loss. The Alwal section comprising 40,000 households has been taken up as a pilot project.

ASCI roped in

Interestingly this area has only 10,000 Consumer Account Numbers (CANs) and the Board has no idea whether the rest of the consumers have proper connections or not.

The Administrative College of India (ASCI), which has been entrusted the job, has taken up survey of the Alwal section.

Eight teams are working on the project mapping each household with GPS coordinators. The survey will check for CANS, illegal connections and also gather socio-economic data.

By September end the survey is expected to be completed. Authorities are also in the process of identifying an area in the core city for this exercise.

Entire city to be covered

“The entire city will be covered in a phased manner. Once the data is ready we will initiate action against the illegal connections,” said G.S. Panda Das, executive director, Water Board.

In the State capital the water loss is a shocking 34 to 40 per cent although only 15 per cent is permissible as per norms. At present the Board supplies 340 mgd water but it is able to account for only 170 mgd. There is simply no trace of where the remaining water goes. According to rough estimates PSPs consume about 15 mgd, paid and free tankers account for 5 mgd, about 6 mgd goes to charity connections. The present exercise is to bring the unaccounted water into the system and bill for the entire water supplied.