New ‘smart’ water meters will detect leakages, digitally track consumption

NDMC will modernize its water system by installing smart meters to track consumption and reduce billing errors, covering 16,000 connections in Delhi.

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is set to modernise its water distribution system by installing “smart meters” that can digitally track consumption, detect leakages, and curb billing errors, civic officials said on Monday. The body has floated tenders for contractors, marking the start of a ₹30.84 crore replacement drive that will make NDMC the first agency in Delhi to adopt smart water metering on this scale.

New ‘smart’ water meters will detect leakages, digitally track consumption

Over the next 12 months, about 16,000 mechanical and defective meters will be replaced with ultrasonic Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) devices across New Delhi, said a senior NDMC official privy to the agency’s plan. The project will run for five years. “These meters have no moving parts in contact with water, eliminating complaints of overbilling. They are magnetically sealed and have a battery life of around 15 years,” the official cited above, who asked to remain anonymous, said.

The replacements will cover connections ranging from 15mm domestic lines to 300mm bulk pipelines, the person cited above said. Of the total, 13,860 meters are for 15mm connections, 334 for 25mm lines, with smaller numbers for larger pipeline widths up to 300mm.

Unlike most of Delhi, which relies on the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) for water supply and metering, NDMC acts as both distributor and utility in Lutyens’ Delhi. To be sure, NDMC does not control any major water infrastructure, so it sources raw water from DJB.

NDMC supplies about 15,970 residential connections, besides commercial ones.

Officials said the new meters will be integrated into NDMC’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, linking real-time consumption data with the billing system.

“Bills will be generated automatically without manual interference. The centralised system will also allow us to analyse consumption trends, identify leakages, and rationalise supply during lean periods,” the official added.

The move assumes significance as it comes as people across the Capital grapple with chronic complaints of inflated water bills and meter backlogs.

In June, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Delhi government also announced plans to explore citywide smart metering through DJB to address any future complaints about wrong bills. The proposal, however, remains at an early stage. Currently, nearly 1,000 meter-readers manage 2.65 million DJB consumers across 41 zones, a process widely criticised as error-prone and inefficient.