INDORE: After announcing to form the State Water Regulatory Commission (Peyjal Nimyak Ayog), the urban development administration department has floated an idea to install a digital meter on water tap to keep a check on the misuse of tap water, especially in urban areas.

Urban development minister Babulal Gaur told TOI they are planning to regulate the piped water supply and check its misuse by installing digital meter which would record the supply of water. However, he said the projection implementation would take some time.

As per the plan, water consumers will get bill as per the meter reading and 1,000 litre of water will be considered as one unit. But it will be consumer who will have to bear the cost of installation of digital meter. Officials said the project would be first implemented in Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur and Gwalior.

As per the rule, sewerage line should get 135 litres of water per day per person whereas the city without sewerage line should get 70 litre per day per person. Officials stress cities are now getting adequate water but it is not equitably distributed. Digital meter will detect misuse of water, they said. In case people use more water than the prescribed quantity they will have to pay extra amount.

Indore has some 1.8 lakh water connections including 40,000 illegal connections. Till now, only around 50% of population has piped water supply and promises of civic body to supply round-the-clock water have fallen flat.

Mayor Krishnamurari Moghe said supplying water cost a huge amount to the civic body and it is essential to check the misuse of water. The civic body has to spend more than Rs 200 crore annually on the supply of water, but it receives only Rs 40 crore per annum as revenue from the water supply. With the increasing population, the demand of water supply will go up in the city, putting an additional financial burden on civic body exchequer. It is essential to have some sort of regulation, he said.