Wasa mulls over installing smart meters in City

LAHORE: Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) is deliberating with private sector to introduce installation of smart water meters for domestic and commercial consumers in the provincial metropolis.

The project is first of its kind in Pakistan especially in the Water Sector, said Wasa Managing Director Syed Zahid Aziz while talking with the scribe here Sunday.

Answering a question that why metering project is necessary, Wasa MD said that Lahore High Court formed a Commission to oversee water conservation and government’s initiatives regarding water conservation.

At present, Wasa does not have any scientific method to assess water supply and demand due to non-availability of water meters, he said and revealed that groundwater table was depleting with a rate of one meter per year, which is very alarming and should be stopped to provide clean drinking water to next generations.

He said the project would help in water conservation and would reduce burden on water table. The project will help in efficient distribution of available water among consumers smartly and minimise water production cost, help in detecting water theft and understanding the actual water consumption.

Answering a question about why Wasa itself not executing the project, he said that execution of the project by Wasa without financing commitment was not possible and financial situation was not allowing Wasa to undertake this project.

He said the project would be executed by a private party under PPP mode. Selection of the company will be based on financial model and as per the approved specifications, he said adding financing arrangement, execution would be the responsibility of private party.

The users will continue to get subsidies as they are already getting and their water bill will remain within their paying power, he added.

Talking about the technical aspects of the project, he said the private party would arrange equity and financing for the project and would install water meters as per approved specifications.

The Wasa’s role in this project will be to ensure availability of legal framework in the form concession agreement, provision of encumbrance free building for lab set up by private party, will provide encumbrance free installation points to private party, implement cost recovery mechanism through tariff charge, approve the private party for undertaking of the project, ensure availability of funds and disbursements of invoices raised by private party for smooth operations of the water meters O&M.

Revealing the proposed water tariff, he said for domestic users using water upto 5,000 gallons the tariff will be Rs12.88, from 5,001 to 20,000 gallons will be Rs20.86 and for 20,000 gallons and above it will be Rs27.30. The sewer fee is charged on the water bill as 70% of water rate. The estimated monthly rental for smart water meter to each domestic connection will be approximately Rs170, he added.

Similarly, for commercial consumers, 5,000 gallons will be charged as Rs51.96, 5001 to 20,000 gallons it will be Rs92.82 and 20,000 gallons and above it will be Rs134.27. The sewer fee is charged on the water bill as 80% of water rate and the estimated monthly rental for smart water meter to each household will be approximately Rs400 + 5% inflation on annual basis.