The BWSSB will launch a drive to disconnect unauthorised water connections in the city. In the first phase, the drive will start from Ganesh Mandir ward soon. Disconnecting illegal connections will reduce the risk of contamination of water as well as reduce unaccounted for water (UFW), which is as high as 48 per cent, causing a huge revenue loss for BWSSB.
The Board has decided to go ahead with the drive in view of the recent complaints of reported water contamination. While some tests conducted by citizens and the BBMP on water samples from some areas show that the water supplied by BWSSB to some areas was contaminated, the Board has vehemently denied the allegations and said that the only possibility of water contamination in those areas could be due to theft of water through unauthorised connections.
Unaccounted-for water is a big loss to BWSSB. More importantly, water that is illegally drawn from the BWSSB pipes poses a great health threat as the probability of this water getting contaminated is very high. We have been working towards reducing the UFW and we will launch an organised drive to disconnect unauthorised connections, starting from Ganesh Mandir ward,” said Mr T. Venkataraju, Engineer-in-Chief, BWSSB.
At a meeting of BWSSB officials on Wednesday, BWSSB Managing Director Gaurav Gupta directed the officials concerned to take necessary steps to improve revenue collection and reduce UFW. “Have a proper plan to check unauthorised connections and illegal tapping of water. Install more bulk meters for proper water accounting”, Mr Gupta told his officials.
Apart from unauthorised connections, leakage in pipelines is another major reason for UFW. Apart from disconnecting unauthorised connections, BWSSB has already prepared a DPR to improve distribution of water by reducing the UFW by replacing old corroded or encrusted pipelines in the five water supply divisions. The BWSSB is taking up this project with assistance of Japan International Cooperation Agency. A recent interim report of an expert committeehas recommended reduction in unaccounted-for water from the present 48 per cent to 16 per cent.