Graft, leaks eat into water board income
If wastage plugged at reservoirs it can earn `12 cr monthly
Despite spending `45 per kilo litre to bring water from the Krishna and Godavari basins to the city, the HMWSSB has not used it economically while supplying water to households.
The water board has a capacity to hold only 450 million gallons a day (MGD), against 650 MGD drawn from various water bodies daily. This overdrawing of water is not just a waste of precious commodity but also jacks up the electricity bill to `80 crore for bringing water from the Krishna and Godavari rivers.
Highly-placed sources in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board said that 40 per cent of the water supply remains unaccounted for due to a weak and leaky distribution system in core city areas and the high-level corruption by the field staff. Sources said while water board officials look the other way, several residents have been drawing water illegally from the main inlet in HMWSSB pipelines.
Another aspect cited was the errant water mafia which have been drawing water and selling it for higher prices to commercial establishments in the city.
However, water board officials attribute the incidence of ‘unaccounted water’ to only leaks in reservoirs, pipeline damages and illegal water connections. The sources said if water board officials’ claims were true then all 200 MGD that leaks every day should have increased the groundwater levels in the city considerably.
But since the groundwater level remains low in the city it was obvious that water was not leaking from reservoirs into the soil but the board’s lower officials allowing siphoning of water and manipulating the revenue from water charges.
Admitting that 40 per cent of the water supply in the city was unaccounted for, a senior HMWSSB official told
Deccan Chronicle on condition of anonymity that the water board has hired a consultant to conduct a study on the matter.
He said that the consultant had inspected the city’s 130 reservoirs and stated that only 2 per cent of water leaked from 54 reservoirs.
The official said the water board will gain `12 crore every month if it spent `8 crore on repairing the leakages in reservoirs. The water board will use district metering to quantify the water loss, sub-metering in districts to measure water flow and identify breaks, acoustic leak-detection data loggers and correlators to localise and pinpoint leaks in a comprehensive water audit.
The HMWSSB official said that the process to minimise water leakages will take at least eight months, costing `1,000 crore.
The water board on an average collects `107 crore as water charges, it could generate another `45 crore revenue if the leakages are identified and repaired.