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Bangalore
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Thiruvananthapuram
Counting use of borewell when fixing water tariff
The fundamental duty of a water utility is communicating to citizens information on water and sanitation knowledge pertaining to the city. In Bangalore, since all connections are metered, the BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) sends a bill to every consumer on a monthly basis. A house is visited twice by the BWSSB, once for the meter reading and the next time when the bill is delivered.
The meter reader also makes sure to find out whether there is a borewell being used in a house or not.
Sometimes, they also ask whether an open well is present or not. The current tariff of Rs.50 a month is specifically on borewells and not on open wells. Consumers must be aware of this as should meter readers.
On the other hand, the BWSSB should also be made aware that a borewell supplies water cheaper than its production cost.
As and when people make use of their borewells for additional water or to supplement that supplied by the BWSSB, they are saving the BWSSB money.
One other thing that is not so strange perhaps is that the domestic middle class is subsidised for water. Since the poor are most likely not to be connected to mainlines, they end up actually paying more for their water than the rich.
This is a patent absurdity which needs to be changed. Subsidies should be removed from those who can afford to pay and targeted at those who cannot afford the price of water.
Unless utilities are made in charge of all water — surface, pipeline, ground, rain, recycled — they will not optimise the soundest ecological and economic solutions for the city. Bangalore has the best chance to do exactly this. Will the new government seize the opportunity? Time will tell about its water wisdom as it will about ours. Knowledge and action are the key in being water wise.
S. VISHWANATH
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