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WATER WISE

Monitor: Keep an eye on the water meter at home

For the customer, the correct price of water ensures access to clean water and also signals that excess consumption has a penalty and therefore he is dissuaded from over- consumption.

For the institution it means the ability to maintain the system for efficient delivery of water as well as to be able to invest for expansion of services.

Many cities charge for water and include it as part of the property tax. This is a very indirect way of recovering revenue. Others charge a flat rate based on the dimension of the connecting pipe to the household, say, for example Rs. 45 per month for a 3/4inch pipe connection and Rs. 30 a month for a half-inch pipe connection. This too is an arbitrary method of collecting water revenues.

There is increasing consensus however that an increasing block tariff makes the most sense. This is what cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad use for their water charges.

Bangalore’s domestic tariff for water looks like this:

0-8,000 litres — Rs. 6 per kilo litre

8,001-25,000 litres — Rs. 9 per kilo litre

25,001-50,000 litres — Rs. 15 per kilo litre

50,001- 75,000 litres — Rs. 30 per kilo litre

There is a separate charge for non-domestic consumption on an increasing block tariff too and for industrial consumption on a flat basis.

These utilities try to provide access to basic water requirement at affordable prices but ask heavier consumers to pay more. The non-domestic and industrial connections actually cross-subsidise the domestic consumers, bringing in an element of social justice.

For historical reasons and thanks to far-sighted decision makers, Bangalore has had an effective metering system almost since water supply started from Thippagondanahalli reservoir in 1932 and therefore is able to levy an effective volumetric charge. Without metering and a system of reading and recording the meters it is impossible to levy an increasing block tariff and to have any meaningful method of charging for water.

While typically the price of water should depend on the marginal cost i.e. the cost of obtaining the next unit of water for consumption, knowing the production cost is important. On this will depend the pricing.

The Bangalore water utility charges a flat Rs. 15 on the first 25 kilolitre of water as a sanitary charge. It goes to 15 per cent of the water bill if the consumption is over 25 kilolitres and 20 per cent of the bill if it is over 50 kilolitre. It is usually argued that the true cost of water is captured when it is returned to nature at the same quality at which it was appropriated. Obviously city utilities are yet to get there but will do so through a system of selling tertiary treated water and recovering costs of sewage treatment through this value.

Apartments and layouts have to manage with multiple sources of water. Most probably they will source water from the mainline, borewells and private tankers and also buy bottled water and even recycled water.

There are lessons in water management that they will have to pick up if they have to manage conflicts. For one, they will have to meter all individual connections so that each flat or each site is charged according to its consumption and not in an arbitrary fashion.

Associations will also need to know the combined cost of the waters they source. Metering the borewell and knowing the energy and maintenance cost of the water system will help. Private water tankers will have to be clearly measured volumetrically to understand the right costs incurred per kilolitre.

Based on the sewage treatment plant set up, costs of sewage treatment will have to be calculated and recovered from the water consumed by each individual connection.

Slowly but surely, water managers will need to come into play to ensure that a systematic and structured approach is adopted to ensure sustainability, equity and fairness in charging for water and making sure it is available to all when required.

By knowing the costs involved from sources such as borewells and private tankers optimisation exercises can be undertaken to ensure lowest water and sewage bills.

As water gets to be an increasingly scarce resource, better management practice is the only option for continued and sustainable availability. Getting the price right is one aspect of water wisdom.

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