DailyMirror.lk:
The cost incurred by the Water Supply and Drainage Board due to leakages, illegal connections, free water supply to sand posts and Tenement Gardens had accumulated to as high as Rs.2.8 billion in 2009, according to the latest Auditor General’s report submitted to Parliament last week. The Water Board calls it Non Revenue Water (NRW) which accounted for 31.07 percent of the total water supply during the year under review, a decrease compared to 32.13 percent reported previously. In this manner, 139 .3 million cubic metres of water had been used. In the Colombo Municipal Area, it was, however, as high as 53.05 percent.
The Board said that the water leakages were due to the use of pipes which were not burst proof. In the Colombo city, 77 percent of the pipes have been laid more than 55 years ago. In the Colombo area, 97 percent water supply is done through the old cast iron pipes.
The report highlights the need to discard all these old pipes. Such pipes have been used even under water projects implemented in recent times. The losses incurred due to illegal connection alone had stood at Rs. 19 million during the year.
The Auditor General observed that the Board had not taken effective measures to prevent the use of water by various persons and individuals outside the metered connection of the Board.
The failure to reduce the extent of NRW has eventually increased the cost of water unit by Rs.11.42 percent, up against 11.37 percent in 2008, 10.37 percent in 2007, 9.27 percent in 2006 and 8.19 percent in 2005.