Water feat: BWSSB slashes wastage to all-time low

The BWSSB has brought down the Unaccounted-for-Water (UfW) to an all-time low of 30 per cent by legalising 60,000 connections, plugging leakages, and replacing old pipelines.

UfW is the difference between the amount of water Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) receives and the amount of water that reaches the consumer.

BWSSB officials told DH that most initiatives have been made in the last one year. “Over the last 18 months, 60,000 illegal connections have been legalised. Also, wherever there were visible leakages, we have plugged them and replaced the old PVC pipes with MS pipes,” a senior BWSSB engineer explained.

That apart, under the UfW project, the BWSSB has spent close to Rs 600 crore to replace the pipelines in a few areas and has been able to save close to 5,000 million litres of water a month.

In March 2017, UfW was at 42.22 per cent and the BWSSB had only managed to bring it down marginally to 38.27 per cent by March 2021. However, from March 2021 to June 2022, the wastage has dropped every month with June recording the lowest at 30.05 per cent.

Last year, the then Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who had reviewed the various projects, had directed the BWSSB officials to bring UfW down to 20 per cent.

Financially lofty task

However, officials said it is a financially lofty task.

“We will need at least Rs 2,000 crore to bring it down to 20 per cent. Now, we have addressed and plugged the loopholes in the soft components,” an official explained.

“To further reduce it, we will have to replace all the old pipes, which we have identified during the inspection. We have not been able to take up the work immediately, owing to the financial burden it comes with,” an official further said .