Water policy recommends phasing out of public taps

A water policy for Kochi Corporation released here on Saturday urges the promotion of individual water connections and phasing out around 5,000 public taps in due course.

The policy finds that these taps for which the Corporation pays about Rs.7,000 to be a drain on its coffers as they have been illegally used for washing vehicles and bathing domestic animals.

The formation of ‘Blue Brigade,’ a specialised team to assist the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) to attend leakages in the distribution pipes has been recommended. A centralised monitoring system developed using state-of-the-art Information Technology applications has been proposed to attend to complaints on the distribution network.

The policy recommends the formation of Kochi Water Information System to serve as a central repository for any water related data about the Corporation. The policy was drawn up by the SCMS Water Institute.

Inaccuracies in the existing water distribution network diagrams limit scientific assessments and therefore the need is for an up-to-date GIS-based map.

Corporation pays around Rs.2 crore annually for distributing drinking water in tanker lorries.

The civic body shall consider a data upkeep system for tankers operating within the Corporation limits and regulate the price of water supplied through tankers.

The policy observes that majority of areas within the Corporation fall in either critical or semi critical groundwater zone. Corporation should therefore consider issuing licence to well drillers and control drilling of new wells in the critical zones.

Corporation shall also make rooftop rainwater harvesting mandatory for issuing building permits in the critical zones.

Decentralised water treatment plants and distribution systems have been recommended as solutions to non-receipt of water or low pressure water supply at the tail end of the distribution network.

Corporation shall give priority to sanitisation of wells since presence of e-coli indicating potentially dangerous faecal contaminations has been traced in well water.

The policy recommends water audit in every three to five years Corporation mandatory for large apartment complexes and commercial complexes.