Water tariff may go up soon

By Divya Sreedharan

BANGALORE, NOV. 10. Water tariff in the City may go up in a month. The State Government is likely to decide on the issue after the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) Council elections.

A revised tariff is something that the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has been wanting for long. But things became more urgent after the power transmission utility hiked its rates recently.

At present, the BWSSB monthly power bill is Rs. 10.5 to Rs. 11 crores. This is about Rs. 1 crore more than what it was paying before the KPTCL hike. ``For five years we have not hiked the tariff or O&M (operation and maintenance) charges. This despite the fact that we could have done so. There is a provision that says that whenever there is a power tariff hike, we too can go in for a hike without approaching the Government,'' sources said.

The BWSSB request is said to be ``under consideration.''

The board recovers only about 75 per cent of the money it spends on bringing water to the City from the Arkavathy and Cauvery river sources. Though 690 MLD (million litres per day) is supplied to the City, only 429 MLD is accounted for. This means about 38.2 per cent of water is wasted. Yet, till 1998, the BWSSB did ``no scientific investigation'' into the causes for the unaccounted for water (UFW).

A board project report says that the present cost of production is Rs. 16 per kilo litre, i.e. a weighted average of costs under the Cauvery stages and the Arkavathy supply (from Hesarghatta and T.G.Halli). Once the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme Stage 4, Phase 1 is complete, the cost will be Rs. 18 per kilo litre.

``Without UFW, the cost will be Rs. 11 per kilo litre, and with loss it is Rs. 16 per kilo litre,'' sources said. They say the board recovers only 75 per cent of the costs.

In 1998, the BWSSB and NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Kanpur) did a pilot study of 10,875 connections in some parts of the City. Using the board's leak detection equipment, the NEERI estimated UFW at 37 per cent. The NEERI recommendations led the board to replace bulk meters with new meters in 1999 and the next year, a Water Audit and Control Division was formed.

In 2000, a Rs. 125-lakh government grant led to a pilot study in Koramangala covering 10,000 connections. The study is in progress. In July this year, the board and AusAid began a pilot study in Kanakanapalya area, and in September another study was undertaken in Cubbonpet. Both the studies are in progress.

Cause of UFW: The road-widening work which leaves pipes exposed leads to leaks. The board has already spent Rs. 600 lakhs on replacing corroded pipes. Old/defective meters are another reason. These record approximately 31.7 per cent less water than the new meters.

During the September session of the Bangalore Forward Summit, the board chairman, Mr. M.N.Vidyashankar, said 50,000 meters would be replaced in 2001-02 and a equal number in 02-03. The payback period for the meter cost is 11 months. Of the 3.3 lakh connections in existence in 1997, about 1.4 lakh have been replaced. But the expected UFW improvement is only six per cent.

Other reasons include old and leaking ground level reservoirs (GLRs), unauthorised connections and public taps.

The board report concludes that a Rs. 125-crore project planned to rectify UFW has ``to be implemented by preparing detailed tenders and reports.'' Further, it stresses that corroded pipes in old parts of the City -- Shivajinagar, Sampangiramanagar, Cubbonpet, Chickpet, and City Market, among others, must be replaced `immediately.''

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