Now that the monsoon season is over, and there is almost a 1/4th deficit [20-25% less] in the 7 lakes that supply fresh water via BMC pipelines to Mumbai, we are facing 15% cuts with a strong possibility of it being raised to 20-25% in 2010.
There are a bunch of solutions that are practical but require political will to implement:
- Individual electronic water meters
Where ever individual water meters are introduced just like we have power meters, wastage of water declines substantially.
Total usage can decrease by upto 20-25%.
This can easily by phased in the following stages for existing homes [those with OC]:
a) Year 1 - each building is required to have its own water meter.
This will only impact complexes with multiple buildings in the CHS [co-op housing societies].
b) Year 2 - each floor is required to have its own water meter
c) Year 3 - each flat/apt has to have a water meter
This will apply immediately to all under construction residential buildings that have not yet got their OC [occupation certificates].
This will provide a few years for older CHS to get into compliance.
These meters will have to be electronic and tamper proof just like new power meters.
The cost of supplying water is over Rs. 7/KL currently and does not include the cost from any new desalination plants [they use reverse osmosis to filter sea water].
Then the cost of providing fresh water jumps to Rs. 10-20/KL.
- Raising rates for star rated hotels
If the current rate is Rs. 3.50/KL [kilo litre], hotels should be billed according to their ratings:
2 * hotels = 2 x base rate = Rs. 7/kl
3 * = 3 x base = Rs. 10.50/kl
4 * = 4 x = Rs 14/kl
5 * = 5 x = Rs 17.50/kl
This way it encourages hotels not to inflate their ratings which can be quite misleading and subjective.
The BMC must require all hotels to post their disclosed ratings for tariffs at all guest enterences.
Then specific rules for banning swimming pool usage and their enforcement become redundant.
If a 5 * hotel wants to use its pool for its guests, it can pay 5 times the rates to the water dept.
- Raising the rates for all other users [residential, commercial, retail, etc]
This should be based on the Ready Reckoner rates for the area.
It can be pegged at 0.1% of the rate per sq. ft or the current base rate whichever is higher.
So it would impact only those areas where the rates are over Rs. 3,500/sq. ft.
If your flat costs Rs. 4-5 k/s.f. then you should be able to afford to pay Rs. 4-5/KL for BMC water.
The same would apply to malls, multiplexes, offices, etc.
This would automatically incent people in south mumbai where the rates are Rs. 10-20 k/sf to go for rain water harvesting and sewage treatment [grey water recycling/recovery for non-potable uses like flushing, gardening, car washing, etc]
Currently the poor pay 10-20 times higher rates for dirty tanker water to their colonies so its only fair that the rich should share a higher cost.
Once the new rates are rolled out, the extra money should be used to reduce theft & leakage in the network since almost another 1/4th of the supply gets wasted this way.
Further optimisations can be done for rented flats if the ready reckoner rates are much below the current rental yield
For rented flats it should be pegged at 0.1% of the monthly rental or capital value whichever is higher.
This way only those flats with rents above Rs. 3,500/month will be impacted.
A ceiling for residential rates can be imposed at those of the 5 * levels or 5 x the base.
So all apts above Rs. 17,500/sf would pay the same rate as 5 * hotels.
All rentals above Rs. 17,500/month would also fall in this category.
This was no residential user pays more than any 5 * hotel.
The additional money raised should be split between the water dept and the rest of the BMC with 3/4th going to the 'jal board' and 1/4th to reduce the BMC budget deficit.
The same tariff structure should be applied for power to hotels also.
But this should be pegged to the max residential rates.
Currently REL customers pay Rs. 6.50/unit for the 'energy charge',
Rs. 1.50/unit for 'expensive power', and
Rs. 0.27/unit for 'standby'.
This is a total of Rs. 8.27 + taxes = Rs. 8.60/kwh approx for usage over 500 units/month.
So a 2 * should pay 2 x 6.5 = Rs. 13/unit
3 * = 3 x = Rs. 19.50/unit
4 * = 4 x = Rs. 26/unit
5 * = 5 x = Rs 32.50/unit
Now there will be no need for enforcement of any power saving guidelines like solar water heating since all hotels will have a financial incentive to invest in such technology.
The extra revenue should be split between the power company and the BMC so that the municipality gets 3/4th of the surplus and the power companies don't have to raise residential rates further.
Again, the rates could be indexed to property value at 0.1% so only those properties with rates above Rs. 8,600/s.f. will be impacted.
The additional rates could kick in only if usage exceeds 750 units/month.
Again a cap on 5 x could be imposed at Rs. 32.50/kwh for properties above Rs. 32,500/sf
