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Incentives for water conservation
Cities and city utilities all across the country are looking for ways to save water as this critical resource becomes scarce or threatens to run out. Bangalore has every connection metered and an increasing block tariff.
The tariff, however, heavily subsidises domestic water with wrong incentives. For example, with a production cost of Rs. 24 a kilolitre (Rs.18 a kilolitre plus losses in the system of 37 per cent), a household which consumes 25,000 litres of water per month gets a subsidy of Rs.400 approximately per month. This is simply unsustainable.
On the other hand, if a household harvests rainwater and does not draw a drop of water from the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) it still gets a bill of Rs. 48 covering the first slab. While the household has saved the BWSSB Rs.400, it has been penalised with a minimum bill.
How then to devise a pricing strategy as a incentive to make households utilise rainwater or recycled water as an instead of BWSSB water? Let us assume an average standard demand of 135 litres per person per day and an average family size of 4. Monthly demand would be 135 x 4 x 30 = 16,200 litres, say 16 kilolitres. This is a reasonable quantity of water a family is expected to consume in a month.
Anything less than this shows frugality in water use, conservation and perhaps rainwater harvesting and water recycling, all deeds that the city needs to reward the family for. How should the reward go to the family? Let us assume that the family has only used 5 kilolitre of water in a month. Consumption below expected normal demand of 16 kilolitre is 16 – 5 = 11 kl. Subsidy that the family would have got from the BWSSB at 16 kl of consumption = 8 x 18 + 8 x 15 = Rs. 264 Let us define an incentive fund of Rs. 18 (the gross production cost of water to the BWSSB) minus Rs. 9 (a reasonable tariff for the lowest slab in the coming days) = Rs. 9 a kl. So, for every kilolitre less than 16 kilolitres consumed by a family in a month, it will get that saving of water in kl into Rs. 9 as an incentive amount to be set off against future bills.
S. VISHWANATH
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