Nagpur: NMC loses 40% of water revenue due to pilferage and leakage

Forty per cent of all the water that Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) supplies to the city doesn't bring any money to it. In Nagpur, 650 MLD (million litres per day) of water is delivered each day.

Due to the increased demand during the summer, 700 MLD are provided. The localities are supplied through pipelines by the NMC water supply department through a private supplier, Orange City Water (OCW), which also collects and treats raw water.

For raw water, NMC pays crores of rupees to the irrigation department. But a big chunk of its water is either pilfered or leaked through pipelines. The biggest defaulter is the Satranji Pura Zone, where 67.51% of the water supplied doesn't bring in any revenue. It is followed by Asi Nagar and Gandhi Bagh zones, where 57.38% and 53.11% of water, respectively, are unbilled.

Laxmi Nagar Zone, on the other hand, has the least amount of water pilferage and leakage. It has only 22.07% non-revenue supply. Dharampeth and Hanuman Nagar zones follow with 32.52 and 40.14%, respectively. About 40% of the total water on average is unbilled.

Causes behind non-revenue water

• Leak in pipeline
• Theft of water
• Use of illegal means for water
• Other uses of drinking water
• Lack of water meters