More than 8,000 water meters in a single division of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) that covers large swathes of the capital city have been found to be defunct.
Alarmed by the revenue loss it entails to the cash-strapped KWA, officials of the water utility have decided to instruct consumers to get the faulty equipment replaced by August 31 or face disconnection.
An order in this regard will be issued shortly, a senior KWA official said.
A survey has revealed that 8,419 water meters in the KWA Public Health Division (Thiruvananthapuram North) are not working, although the water was being drawn.
All categories
Defunct/faulty meters have been detected amongst all consumer categories, including domestic, non-domestic, and industrial, R.V. Santhosh Kumar, executive engineer, PH Division (Thiruvananthapuram North) said. Faulty meters was one of the main themes on the agenda of a KWA division-level meeting held on Wednesday.
With 1.4 lakh connections, the division covers a vast area that includes Kazhakuttam in the west to Peroorkada, Kowdiar, and Vellayambalam in the east.
“We have asked meter readers to issue notices to the consumers in question and get the meters replaced. We plan to initiate disconnection procedures after the August-31 deadline. The aim is to reduce faulty meters in the division as far as possible by December 31,” Mr. Santhosh Kumar said.
According to the Kerala Water Supply and Sewarage Act, “When a meter provided by the owner or occupier goes out of order, the same shall be got replaced or repaid as the case may be, within a period of 30 days of the report of the damage, by the Assistant Executive Engineer at the cost of the owner or occupier.”
In a bid to plug revenue leakage, PH Division (North), a key money-earner for the KWA, had recently formed an eight-member anti water theft squad.
Huge potential
According to KWA estimates, the division has the potential to earn an annual revenue of ₹100 crore for the KWA, although income stood at ₹74 crore last year.
The extent of the malpractices that cause revenue loss to the KWA is huge, according to officials. During a recent inspection, it was discovered that a city-based hotel had been drawing water from the KWA network sans authorisation since 2017. In the case of a consumer in Veli, the meter had not even been ‘read’ since 2013.
The KWA has now instructed meter readers to promptly report leaks so that timely rectification is carried out.