To curb the illegal exploitation of water by the public, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) registered a total of 2,806 FIRs.
Story so far: Illegal water usage refers to getting an additional water connection apart from a legal connection or solely utilising an unauthorised connection, which isn’t connected to a meter and hence, does not get billed.
- BWSSB has discovered 56,000 unauthorised water connections. Out of this, 5,156 were bypass connections.
- The effective clampdown on the exploitation of water has led to increased revenue and water supply.
Key Details: Through 89 ground-level reservoirs, BWSSB supplies water to 10.5 lakh houses. It pumps out 1,450 million litres of water daily to the city from TK Halli.
- One-third goes to waste due to illegality, exploitation by the public and other unexpected circumstances.
What Now: Despite the claims of increased revenue and a decrease in exploitation, the department has not been able to provide accurate data on where this exploitation is prominent and who the serial violators are.