The Hindu : `BWSSB can levy fine for excess consumption'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 29, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

`BWSSB can levy fine for excess consumption'

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE May 28. The BWSSB Act allows the Board to cut water supply by 25 to 50 per cent. "If a consumer uses more water, we can penalise them or charge twice or thrice the normal rate," the BWSSB Chief Engineer (Corporate Planning and Waste Water Management), M.N.Thippeswamy, has said.

He said the BWSSB cut water supply twice in 1983-87 drought. The official felt that those who misused drinking water should be fined heavily. "In the U.S., wastage of water attracts a fine of $ 500 during drought," he said.

As of now, Bangalore gets 800 million litres a day from various stages of the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme (CWSS). The Thippegondanahalli Reservoir, which used to give 135 mld, was dry now but that shortfall was made up by the CWSS and officials said they could manage till June 13. If the rainfall resulted in the inflow of 4,000 cusecs of water in the Kabini catchment area on a given day, it would help in supplying water for 10 days.

What happens if rains fail this year? "We may have to bring train loads from the Almatti Reservoir," Mr. Thippeswamy said.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the BWSSB inaugurated a 60 mld tertiary treatment plant at Vrishabhavathi Valley on Mysore Road. When fully operational, the plant will save potable water needed by an extra four lakh Bangaloreans. This treated water is to be sold to industries on Mysore Road and the Bidadi Industrial Area for Rs. 19 a kilo litre as against Rs. 60 a kilo litre for normal water but the Board has not completed work on laying pipelines (to Bidadi).

The Rs. 35-crore plant is said to be the largest and most sophisticated in India. It gets 180 mld secondary treated water but only 60 mld goes into tertiary treatment and the rest is let out.

The officials said that the sludge produced during the treatment process was good manure, which they would sell to farmers at the rate of Rs 500 a lorry load. "Up to one MW biogas is generated. Eventually, power for the plant (it uses 1.35 MW) can be generated from it," an official said.

They planned to replicate this on a mini-scale elsewhere, he added. Till the pipeline was ready, the plant would run at half its capacity.

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