Wasa suffers water bill loss, consumers made to pay

While city water agencies struggle to meet the rising demand for water during hot summer days, they are not getting the price for all the water they extract, treat, and distribute, because non-revenue water accounts for a third of the supply in Chattogram and a fifth in Dhaka.

Data from Chattogram Wasa and Dhaka Wasa shows that in recent times, the percentage of the agencies' unbilled water reached as high as 35% and 22%, respectively, which officials attribute to problems in meter reading, pipeline leakage, and illegal connections.

Stakeholders say regular customers are being made to pay for the water agencies' failure to address leakage, waste, and theft, even after investing millions in projects.

For example, the Chattogram Wasa currently seeks to hike water tariffs for the city people by 30% to 50% at one go. If the local government ministry agrees, Chattogram households will have to pay Tk23.50 and commercial clients Tk55.50 per unit (1,000 litres).

Asian Development Bank (ADB) finds high water loss in distribution networks as a chronic problem in many Asian cities, with an average 35% of their water remaining unbilled. High proportion of water being leaked in the network makes it harder for many Asian cities to keep water tariffs at a reasonable and affordable level, it says.

Unbilled water in Ctg Wasa

Chattogram Wasa spent around Tk1,000 crore to reduce systems loss by digitising water distribution and management through 59 District Metered Areas (DMA). The project concluded in June of last year. However, it failed to yield the expected outcomes.

Officials said that the project has so far brought more than half of the port city's water connections under an intense monitoring network. Despite this, the share of non-revenue water has increased.

According to Chattogram Wasa data, after the project's completion in June 2023, the amount of non-revenue water was 35% in July, 32% in August, and 31% from September to December of the same year.

Previously, in January and February of the same year when the project was still incomplete, the unbilled water amounted to 31% and 30%, respectively. However, data indicates that in 2018, the rate was as low as 15% in some months.

Chattogram Wasa Managing Director AKM Fazlullahtold TBS that they have a target to bring down the non-revenue water rate to 25% within the next 3-4 months.

"There is a problem with meter reading. Many residential and commercial establishments also have illegal connections. We are trying to solve the issues by conducting raids," he said.

Meanwhile, officials involved in the project for reducing systems loss say the rate of non-revenue water is less than 10%, which was the target of the project. In some areas, it is less than 2%. They attribute the discrepancy to calculation problems within the revenue department of Chattogram Wasa.

Makshud Alam, director of the project and chief engineer of Chattogram Wasa, told TBS, "Before the project was completed, the contractor, consulting firm, and WASA conducted a joint audit. Non-revenue water rates have come down to 10% or less. The revenue department is supposed to work on the matter."

The agency conducted an internal inquiry in 2020 into the average non-revenue water billing. It shows that only 3.89% of water is wasted due to leakage problems. There are allegations that the rest of the unbilled water is sold or extracted illegally.

The agency's revenue chief also acknowledged that waste, pipeline leakage, and unauthorised connections contribute to the high percentage of unaccounted water.

Chattogram Wasa Chief Revenue Officer Rumon Deysaid that some water is wasted during pipeline distribution, and illegal and bypass lines are used for selling water, resulting in system loss.

Still, the non-revenue water rate remains unacceptably high, he said, citing their routine drives and fines to check unauthorised connections.

According to Chattogram Wasa, the organisation'scurrent daily water production capacity stands at around 50 crore litres. Presently, around 40% of the city's population remains outside of Wasa's water supply coverage.

The organisation faces a monthly revenue loss of Tk14 crore to Tk17 crore due to unbilled water.

Dhaka Wasa faces the same issue

Over the last one-and-a-half decades, Dhaka Wasa has implemented a number of foreign-funded projects to enhance its overall capacity and distribution network.

At least two of these projects, the Dhaka Water Supply Sector Development Programme and the Dhaka Environmentally Sustainable Water Supply Project, involved roughly Tk7,000 crore in financing from the ADB and the European Investment Bank.

According to Dhaka Wasa documents, under these projects, the organisation planned to divide its service areas into 156 District Metered Areas (DMA) equipped with efficient water monitoring and metering technologies to enhance supply and reduce water losses.

The project works have been implemented in seven out of Dhaka city's ten zones. However, in areas not covered by the ongoing projects, water losses remain the major cause of insufficient service delivery, as stated by the agency in its 2022 annual report.

Dhaka Wasa mentioned that some of its pipelines were built 50 years ago, with some even dating back 150 years, and have become leaky, causing 40%-45% of non-revenue water.

A substantial portion of non-revenue water and system loss which is not billed is due to leakage and illegal connections, Dhaka Wasa Managing Director TaqsemA Khan said in a recent statement. He also mentioned informal settlements and low income community areas consuming piped water through unauthorisedconnections.

However, the agency's deputy managing director (operation and management), AKM Shahid Uddin, told TBS, "Dhaka Wasa's current overall systems loss is 22%, which is much lower than before."

He credited the DMA scheme for the decline in system loss. Out of the planned 156 DMAs, 113 have been completed, resulting in significant progress in the distribution and billing system.

He also mentioned that work on the remaining DMAs is ongoing.

The official further said, "The systems loss in the DMA area is now below 5%. However, in 43 areas where the DMAs are not completed, the system loss is above 40%."

He said the overall systems loss would decrease to 5% once all the DMAs are completed.

In the audit reports of the last nine years, Dhaka Wasaclaims to have collected 98% of the revenue from customers. Therefore, the expected revenue collection should exceed Tk16,343 crore. However, in reality, it has only amounted to over Tk13,011 crore, which is 78% of the total revenue collection. This means there is an unaccounted sum of Tk3,221 crore.

According to Dhaka Wasa, their current water production stands at 270 crore to 275 crore litres per day. This means that around 60 crore litres of water are being wasted daily due to pipeline leakage. Consequently, the production cost of water is rising, prompting Dhaka Wasa to consider addressing the liability by raising water prices for customers.

According to audit reports, in FY23, Dhaka Wasa'srevenue collection fell short by Tk310 crore compared to the actual amount.

By reviewing Dhaka Wasa's audit reports and annual reports from FY15 to FY23, discrepancies between the recorded accounts and reality were identified, with a significant portion attributed to system losses.