February 1 deadline for residents with manual water supply meters in areas falling under GMDA to change to electronic meters

Residents living in newly built sectors where water supply connections are provided by the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), will have to install electronic water meters -- in place of manual ones -- by February 1, said officials on Tuesday

Residents living in newly built sectors where water supply connections are provided by the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), will have to install electronic water meters by February 1, said officials on Tuesday.

Gurgaon, India - April 5, 2018: In order to suffice need of residents of New Gurugram like DLF, Sushant Lok, South City and others the GMDA supplies 150 mld water from Sector-16 Boosting Station, in Gurgaon, India, on Thursday, April 5, 2018. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times) (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

The change is being made to reduce non-revenue water supplied by the GMDA, which is not metered and leads to revenue loss.

Officials said that residents will have to change to electronic smart meters so that the water supply can be tracked from the integrated control and command centre (ICCC) of the GMDA, where hourly water flow details can be measured.

Pardeep Kumar, a chief engineer at the infrastructure-II division of the GMDA, said, “With manual water meters, chances of theft are high. In a particular area, a meter might not be working for 10 days but water is being supplied daily. The entire water supply goes unmetered, leading to loss of revenue for the authority. Developers or the body that applies for connections in areas where water supply connections are given by the GMDA will now have to switch to electronic meters. It definitely will streamline the process of monitoring water supply.”

Kumar said that for all new water connections, electronic smart meters are the only option for residents. He added that the GMDA has so far given over 600 water connections, mostly in the new sectors from 81-110. For sector 111 to 115, water supply is likely to start from March.

“The electronic water meters must have power backup as they will be connected to the ICCC and in case of a power cut, the water will be charged based on the hourly average supply to a particular area, as data will be available to us on how much water is being supplied throughout the day,” the chief engineer said.

The authority has already taken measures such as tapping flowing water, which earlier used to get wasted, installing water flow meters and setting up flow control devices for equitable distribution of water to reduce non-revenue water.

Incidentally, non-revenue water sources stood at 50% in August last year, which was reduced to 11% by November-end, said officials.

Praveen Malik, the vice-president of the United Association of New Gurugram, a body comprising 40 housing societies located in Sector 77 to 90 said, “This is a good move and will help the GMDA to monitor the water supply, but still there are at least 10 societies in the new sectors where residents are yet to get supply. The authority should first ensure water connectivity to all these areas.”

Societies such as the NBCC Heights and Tulip Ace in Sector 89 and three societies of Mapsko Group in Sector 82 are yet to be given water connection by the authority.

Water supply became operational in the new sectors in August last year after chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar inaugurated a piped water supply initiative to residential societies.