BENGALURU: The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is planning to permanently do away with the litany of complaints received against several valvemen and meter-readers indulging in unethical practices by introducing automatic valves and meters soon.
The Board’s ‘Smart Water Management System’ will divide its water supply areas into different parts, billed as District Maintenance Areas, said S Krishnappa, Chief Engineer (CE), Cauvery Division, BWSSB. Intelligent operated valves (automated valves) will be fixed in each area. These valves would automatically turn ‘on’ and ‘off’ at pre-fixed timings. “We will fix the quantum of water to be let out based on the water usage history in a particular area,” he said.
This will be made possible by fixing in-built sensors under the valve area, he added. “When this is in place, valvemen who are doing manual operations now will only have to turn the huge valves at the main Ground Level Reservoirs,” he added. “This would be a big relief for us as well as consumers since we regularly receive complaints pertaining to malpractice by some valvemen and meter readers.”
On a pilot basis, automated valves would be initiated shortly in Jayanagar (in Bengaluru South) R T Nagar or Malleswaram (in Bengaluru North) and Gandhinagar (in Bengaluru Central), Krishnappa said. A total of 70,000 valves would be procured for the three areas. The cost would work out to anything between Rs 100 and Rs 200 for a sensor and the actuator (which aids automatic functions) would cost around Rs 2,000.
A Detailed Project Report is being prepared to instal the valves initially across the core areas of the City and later in the peripheral areas, the CE said.
Automatic meters installed at homes would pass on the water usage reading to a common server to be housed at the BWSSB IT Centre at Jayanagar 45th Cross. “There will be no chance of any extra billing as the exact quantity of water used by every household will be displayed in real-time. The bill generated at the end of the month would be sent to the respective service stations,” he said.
The cost of an automatic meter would be anywhere between Rs 6,000 and Rs 7,000, but the Board can get it for less than half that price as it would place bulk orders, Krishnappa said. “The bill will be borne by BWSSB. The consumer does not have to pay anything for it,” he said. The meter-reader, whose role would merely be to deliver the bill, would be deployed for other activities, he added.
This move can help the BWSSB function efficiently as it is facing a staff crunch.