48% of water unbilled

Water Board loses Rs 18 crore per month

• 34 crore gallons of water supplied every day

• 16.32 crore gallons of water go unbilled

• Out of 8 lakh connections, only 1 lakh have water meters

• Water Board set up 4 lakh connections of which only 1 lakh are working

Potable water is a scarce resource. It would be no surprise if wars are fought over water in the future. The finances of HMWS&SB is in a mess. One of the premier reasons is because almost half of the water supplied to the city is unbilled. While many don’t have water meters installed to gauge their usage, the ones who have meters installed complain of unfair billing. The HMWS&SB has now come up with an action plan to replenish their finances.

The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) supplies 34 crore gallons of water every day. Of this, only 17.68 crore gallons are billed and 16.32 crore gallons, i.e 48 per cent, go unbilled. HMWS&SB that is debt ridden and cash strapped is incurring a loss of Rs 18 crore every month due to this.

The water board is facing losses not only due to this unbilled water, but also due to changes in the power tariff. In an earlier interview, J Shyamala Rao, MD, HMWS&SB, had said, “Earlier the power bill used to be only Rs 22 crore. But that has more than doubled, when the tariffs and surcharge were changed in December 2011.

We are getting Rs 50 crore as water cess per month and Rs 50 crore as electricity bill. We are charged at commercial rate.” There are 8 lakh water connections in the city. Three years ago, the HMWS&SB authorities set up meters for 4 lakh connections, of which only 1 lakh are working.

There are 4 lakh pipeline connections in the city that don’t have water meters to record water usage. The water board officials measure the water outflow from main pipeline and divide it among the number of connections it serves. Due to this, a two-room household and a two-storey villa would get the same bill irrespective of water usage.

To cut down on the losses, the HMWS&SB has come up with an action plan. The citizens who have water connections should install meters, else would have to cough up double the amount billed. In a recent meeting of the water board, it was decided that double the amount billed would be levied as fine, if the water pipeline doesn’t have a meter.

The board is also planning to implement the rule first with 25mm connections and later extend it to all the connections. There are 25,000 water pipeline connections of 25mm in the city and the authorities have issued notices to the users asking them to install meters by the end of December.