As much as 35 to 40 per cent of water, treated, pumped and distributed by the city water board (HMWS&SB) is either lost or Unaccounted for Water (UFW) in Greater Hyderabad limits.

To have proper accountability and to reduce the the huge loss of water, the HMWS&SB has decided to install water meters at all transmission and distribution systems. It has invited Expression of Interest (EOI) from consultants to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed metering project up to docket level.

The board is supplying water to various operation zones from sources such as Osmansagar, Himayatsagar, Singur, Manjira and Krishna through Trunk Transmission system.

In this context, to set accountability and reduce UFW, it invited EOI from reputed consultants.

Water board officials told Express that the UFW is the difference between water produced and supplied to the distribution system and water sold. This difference may be attributable to physical losses such as leakage or overflow of water due poor material, age and corrosion of the network, leaking joints etc. and non-physical losses such as unrecorded supply, theft of water, unregistered connections, faulty meters, unrecorded supply due to poor records and billing errors.

They said the proposed metering system would consist of clear water flow meters of appropriate technology and size at levels that include flow meters at Treatment Plants to measure the clear water produced, off take wise meters to enable transmission wing to release and monitor required quantities to Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Divisions.

Divisions wise meters will arrive at net quantities flowing into each division and docket level meters will assess the water supplied to each division to establish water accountability and accurate billing system.

Apart from the study and suggestion of the metering system, the consultant would be asked to study the mapping of lineman and meter reading staff responsible for releasing water and billing at the consumer level.

The DPR should also consist of recommendations on exact location, technology and cost estimates for the proposed meters, maintenance mechanism etc.