Plan in pipeline to plug water leakages, theft
Leakages and illegal connections have been costing the Metro Water Board 40 per cent of its earnings.
The board has decided to conduct a special drive to curb illegal connections and draft plans to repair damages to the pipelines from which 20 per cent of water is leaking.
Highly placed sources in the board said that while officials looked the other way, several residents had been drawing water illegally from the main pipelines. Besides, the water mafia had been drawing water and selling it at higher prices to commercial establishments.
Board officials denied this and attributed the incidence of ‘unaccounted water’ to leaks in reservoirs, pipeline damage and illegal connections. But sources questioned
A senior official said the board would conduct a special drive to check irregularities through sophisticated technology soon.
Several residents had been drawing water illegally, besides the mafia had been drawing water and selling it at higher prices to commercial firms.
the board officials’ claims regarding leaks.
If that was true, all 200 million gallons per day that leaked every day should have increased the groundwater levels in the city considerably.
A senior official said the board would conduct a special drive to check irregularties through sophisticated technology which would be officially announced in a short time. This apart, he said, the board had already prepared a comprehensive action plan to prevent leakages, which would be executed by the end of this month.
He said that if the board spent `8 crore to repair leaks at reservoirs, the Water Board will save `13 crore every month.
The Water Board would use district metering to quantify the loss, sub-metering 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 official said that the process to minimise water leakages would take at least eight months and cost `1,000 crore.
The board on average collects `107 crore from tariff.