BWSSB survey detects nearly 4,000 illegal water connections

The BWSSB has discovered nearly 4,000 “bypass” connections that supply water without being measured by the water meter.

Launching a drive two months ago to find out water thefts to reduce unaccounted-for water, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) stumbled on 3,774 “bypass” connections.

The board regularly conducts the drive to monitor the water supply network across the city and has completed surveying 50 per cent of the connections. A senior BWSSB official said they had surveyed over 2.9 lakh connections in East Zone and identified 1,436 bypass connections.

Similarly, in the West zone, over 2,20,000 connections have been surveyed and 2,338 such connections were unearthed, he added. The board has 10.34 lakh connections and has finished surveying 5.10 lakh of them.

“We plan to reach each house and ensure the illegal practices are not followed. This will be a continuous process from now,” the BWSSB’s Additional Chief Engineer (West) Devaraj M told DH.

While a legally established connection allows water consumption to be measured, a concurrent connection draws water with no accountability of consumption.

The BWSSB imposes hefty fines on those resorting to illegal methods. “Our officials are also trying to ascertain how long they’ve illegally drawn water and slap a back bill on them,” Devaraj said. The board has set up a three-member team at the substation level to survey water connections and nearly 150 employees are working on the survey in each zone.

BWSSB officials actively working to bring down unaccounted-for water are confident that it would reduce by 2 per cent in the coming days. “Apart from bypass connections, we have also identified and regularised nearly 57,000 unauthorised connections. We are also looking at replacing defective manual meters with smart meters,” said N Jayaram, Chairperson, BWSSB.

Unaccounted-for water, which was 49 per cent in 2013, has come down to 36 per cent. At a recent review meeting, then chief minister B S Yediyurappa had asked the BWSSB to further cut it down to 20 per cent.

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