Starting next month, consumers may find getting water connections for houses just a bit easier. The revised procedures, expected to come into effect from August 1, seek to “overcome delay in giving new water connections to aspiring persons” by reducing ‘red tapism’ within the the Kerala Water Authority (KWA). Further, it seeks to reduce the influence of middlemen by giving consumers the option to approach KWA directly. An order was issued last week by Kerala Water Authority Managing Director calling for the simplification of procedures inorder to provide domestic water connections to new customers. As per the order, one of the major changes is to delegate the powers of the assistant executive engineers to assitant engineers regarding receiving and processing applications, establishing fesibility and issuing sanction for connections. “This will remove existing intermediary procedures, reduce a lot of filework and hasten the movement of files,” said KWA MD Asok Kumar Singh. In a move to “empower consumers”, they will, as per revised prcedures, have the option to execute the work related to water connections directly through the KWA. A person seeking water connection has to be accompanied by a licensed plumber but with the changes proposed he/she has the option to carry out the work either directly though the KWA or through a licensed plumber of his choice. A third change is regarding the documents to be produced by the applicant at the time of application. “We will no longer insist on ownership certificate or residential certificates to be issued by local authorities,” said Singh