Despite glitches,civic body to go ahead with automated water meters

“There were some manufacturing problems which were observed during the pilot project. We suggested modifications to the design of the AMRs that will ensure that the meters remain in working condition,” said an official from the department in charge of the purchase and installation of the AMR.

Most existing meters become dysfunctional after they get submerged in water during monsoon and officials said AMRs were the only solution. “The AMRs are water proof and also have an alarm system where the data collector is made aware of any kind of tampering done to the meter,” the official said.

Presently,there are 3.32 lakh water connections in the city and 60 per cent of water meters are not in working condition. To ascertain the exact consumption of water and charge the users accordingly,installation of the AMRs was suggested. But officials said that although the pilot project has revealed faults,the project will be carried forward as it would increase the revenue. “Seventy per cent of water revenue comes from commercial and bulk consumers who are at present paying a lot less than their actual consumption because of faulty meters. The AMRs will give us accurate reading and we will be able to charge them more,” said H S Nikam,chief accountant of water supply and sewerage operations. He added that water dues worth over Rs 700 crore from 2,300 government connections will also be retrieved on producing data of actual consumption. The water revenue in the year 2009 was Rs 1,070 crore.   

At present,domestic and commercial consumers are being charged on the basis of their last consumption till their meter was working. AMRs automatically collect data from the water meter through hand-held units and transfer it to a central database for billing. This enables billing to be based on actual consumption rather than on an estimate based on previous consumption.

Only 10 per cent of the existing meters are owned by the civic body the rest are owned and installed privately. “Despite repeated requests,consumers don’t maintain their meters. With the arrival of AMRs,all the meters will be owned and maintained by the BMC,” said the official. The rent for the maintenance of meters which currently ranges from Rs 15 per month for the smallest meter of 15mm to Rs 2,300 for meters measuring 400 mm and above is set to increase by five times. The AMRs will also enable the implementation of ‘telescopic’ rate wherein citizens will be charged more for consuming water above the national norm of 150 litre per day per capita.

Fifty thousand meters will be installed in the city in the next 12 months,1.08 lakh meters in the eastern suburbs within 18 months and 1.73 lakh in the western suburbs over 24 months. Three companies — Actaris from France,Arad from Israel and Chetak from Pune— that carried out the pilot project will implement it at a total cost of Rs 765 crore.