THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Street water taps may soon become a thing of the past in the state. The public taps are becoming a huge financial burden on the cash-strapped local bodies, which are struggling to pay the water bills.
With water tariffs all set to go up, the authorities are planning to close down public these water supply points. The increase in coverage of household water connections too has prompted them to think of doing away with public taps.
As per statistics with the Kerala Water Authority (KWA), there are around 1,62,556 functional public taps in the state. Of these, 1,20,422 come under panchayat limits, 25,632 under municipalities and 16,502 under city corporation limits. It is learnt that the local bodies owe around `955 crore to the KWA as pending bills for using public water taps.
Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine told TNIE that the department will review the situation in the assembly and take a decision on the future of public taps.
“We are giving household water connections as part of the Jal Jeevan Mission initiative, and based on the expanding coverage, a large number of street water taps will become unnecessary. We will review the use of public water taps and take necessary steps to wind up their operation,” said Roshy.
He said that the water authority is running up huge losses because of the wide gap between the production cost and the tariff collected.
‘Many local bodies have not paid water bills for past 10 yrs’
According to a KWA official, a majority of the local bodies haven’t paid their water bills for the past 10 years. “Thiruvananthapuram corporation owes us around Rs 40 crore, while the Kochi corporation has dues to the tune of Rs 80 crore,” said the official. In Thiruvananthapuram, there are around 3,000 public water taps. “There is a four-fold increase in the water tariff which is not affordable for the civic body. As per the hiked rates, the corporation will have to pay around Rs 2,000 per tap. The coverage of household water connection is increasing and we will shut down unwanted public taps very soon. Some pockets, especially in the coastal belt, have water crisis and we will keep the necessary ones so that the public don’t suffer,” said a senior official of the Thiruvananthapuram corporation.