Water meters bypassed by bungalow, row house, gunthewari home owners; notices issued
Around 20 per cent of various housing societies and bungalow owners have opposed installation of water meters
Nearly 30 homes across Alandi road, Dhayari and Sinhagad road have been issued notices for bypassing newly-installed water meters as part of the water audit conducted by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for its ambitious 24 x 7 water supply project. The installation of water meters has seen 20% opposition from various housing societies and bungalow owners.
During the sampling audit in Pashan, Aundhgaon, Susgaon, Sutarwadi, Ganeshkhind road and Shivajinagar, it has also been found that more than 700 homes are wasting water up to 12,000 litre per capita per day (LPCD) as against the permissible limit of 150 LPCD. This loss of water is also due to underground water lines’ leakage left unchecked and residents refusing to use ball cock systems to stop their water tanks from overflowing.
“We are working zone-wise for the installation of water meters and we have observed during inspection of areas, where we have already installed water meters, more than 30 bungalows, row houses and gunthewari homes have bypassed these water meters through U pipes or by removing the water meters and installing them elsewhere. This has been found recently in areas such as Kalas Ganesh nagar, Alandi road, Maske vasti, Sarvad vasti, Dhayari and Sinhagad road. We have issued notices to those responsible. We are also in the process of levying fines but the same need to be finalised,” said Nandkishor Jagtap, executive engineer overseeing the 24 x 7 water supply project.
The water audit has been divided into five zones as per the water treatment plant. These five zones have been further divided into 141 water supply zones as per district metering area (DMA) where 328 bulk meters have been installed.
According to Jagtap, the entire area including housing societies, bungalows and vastis needs to be 100% installed with water meters for the DMAs to get accurate readings thus enabling a proper water audit. Currently while auditing in most areas, PMC officials have found 20% hidden connections which they have either cut or installed new water meters however there is no guarantee that these water meters too will not be removed. For now, water charges are included in property tax bills. After the 24 x 7 water supply project becomes fully operational, charges will be levied based on water usage.
The installation of water meters started three years ago with 60,000 water meters having been installed across the city thus far although as per the consumers’ survey, the number is estimated to be 286,000 but the same has been delayed by a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to PMC officials.
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A water audit identifies how much water is lost and what is the cost of this loss. The main idea behind a water audit is the water balance namely, an accounting of all the inputs and outputs in the system under examination. The difference between supply and consumption is attributed to many reasons, the understanding of which provides direction on the way forward to reduce non-revenue water and achieve substantial cost savings.
The water audit thus classifies the difference between system input volume and the volume that gets paid for. This exposes the flaws in the system which can be corrected to improve the overall efficiency and reduce the unit cost of water. This is beneficial to citizens as they get a better service at lower cost.
