Srinagar: The Public Health Engineering department has failed to install water meters in Srinagar and Jammu, to check misuse of potable water.
Sources told that four years ago though the department had initiated the process for the procurement of Water Flow Meters to complete installation in a phased manner, but the plan has failed ignominiously mainly because of the non-serious approach of those at the helm of affairs in the Public Health Engineering Department.
It was decided that the installation of meters will be completed in three phases. The commercial establishments, including restaurants, hotels, lodges, shops, will be covered in the first phase followed by metering in civil line areas. The domestic connections will be covered in the final phase the PHE had said.
Sources said that in the twin cities of the sate while almost all the households have been provided with piped water but without metering system. Non-installation of water meters has led to wastage, leakage and misuse of elixir of life. One may see people irrigating their kitchen gardens; cleaning of cars and houses with drinking water abundantly and that leads to non-supply of water to households that are on higher level, they said.
One of the senior officials of the PHE department admitted that wastage of drinking water in absence of water meters. Household consumption stood at 70 liter per member per day. Water meters are the most effective way to encourage sensible water use. Presently, water bills are issued on fixed rate basis per month, he said.
Other official of the department revealed on anonymity that 15-20% drinking water being wasted because of non-metering system. The department incurs heavy monetary loss because water supply without water meters increases non-revenue water quantity, they said and added that Meters are the fairest way to pay for the water use.
Sources said that it is found in a study that on average consumers who have meters uses 10-15% less water than those on flat rate billing.
It is to mention here that Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act, was enacted by the State Legislature more than six years back, lays much thrust on metering of all the water connections in the State on the pattern of power connections so as to ensure judicious use of the water and to generate revenue for the department of Public Health Engineering strictly as per the consumption.
As per official data Jammu and Kashmir has around 2 million consumers registered with JKs Public Health Engineering (PHE) department. Of the total 20, 15,088 consumers, 63.8 percent have access to tap water.
Meanwhile sources said that JK does not have a state-level water testing lab – a high-tech laboratory where water samples can be tested to detect presence of harmful toxics such as zinc, pesticides, etc. which cannot be detected by normal water testing procedures.
Currently there are few testing labs but none of them are equipped to detect the presence of pesticides or zinc level in the drinking water supplied to people in Kashmir, said a source in Public Health Engineering department.
When contacted officials in PHE department, they admitted that exercise was initiated on pilot basis but the same fizzled out with the passage of time. I think the meters were given to one of the nodal agency for study purpose but what happened thereafter is not known, one of the official of the PHE, on condition of anonymity said. (KNS)
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