THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government wants to revise the water tariff without raising household water bills or even slashing it, Water Resources Minister Mathew T Thomas said. “KWA charges only `4 for 1,000 litres of purified water and it is provided free of cost to BPL families. Sadly, misuse of drinking water is rampant. Purified water is not meant for bathing the cow or washing the car,” he told the Assembly during the discussion on The Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
The minister said KWA was losing 40 pc of pumped water owing to leakage of asbestos cement pipes. Replacing all these pipes would need Rs one lakh crore and hence difficult.The bill proposed to reduce the quorum of Kerala Dam Safety Authority from 50 per cent to four members. Following a suggestion by V T Balram, the minister announced it would be fixed at five.
Thomas said the amendment’s provision for three year imprisonment or `2 lakh fine, or both, for polluting water bodies was in sync with the people’s sentiments. Some major irrigation projects like Banasura Sagar and Karappuzha started decades ago are yet to be completed.