The new water tariff announced by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is aimed at encouraging citizens to conserve water.
According to Anjum Parwez, BWSSB’s Managing Director, the tariff has been fixed in such a way that it will deter people from wasting water. “Unless people are economical in using water,they will have to pay up,” he said.
BWSSB sources point out that the average water consumption by a family of four is around 13 kilo litres per month. This falls under the consumption slab of eight to 25 kilo litres of water, and that has seen only 20 per cent hike in tariff. However, as the consumption of water increases, so does the hike in tariff. In some cases, the traffic hike is as high as 60 per cent. This will have a bearing on the total water bill as the sanitary charges and water meter service charges are calculated based on water consumption. BWSSB has linked all components to water consumption.
The only decrease in the new tariff is in the sanitary charges for connections that consume up to eight kilo litres of water per month. It has been reduced by a rupee to Rs 14.
Mr. Parwez said households that consume less than eight kilo litres of water per month are those in the slums and the sanitary charges has been reduced to incentivise the communities Below Poverty Line (BPL) to use sanitary services.
ExpenditureA communiqué states that while the current expenditure is put at Rs. 82 crore a month, revenue sums up to Rs. 50 crore thus leading to a deficit of Rs. 32 crore. The present hike will help BWSSB bridge the gap by around Rs. 24 crore. The water utility hopes to bridge the remaining deficit of Rs. 7.73 crore by plugging leakage.
Mr. Parwez said that BWSSB has been staying afloat utilising funds from capital receipts – pro rata charges – meant to be spent on asset building. “This warranted the tariff hike. If the usage of capital receipts on the day-to- day maintenance had continued, the board would not have had any funds to invest on new assets,” he added.
