Save more, pay less for water

Civic officials to give discount on water bills to housing societies that conserve water, will award them with certificate of appreciation

Water conservation is high on the priority list of civic authorities.

After roping in Sachin Tendulkar to promote water conservation and raising awareness about the cause, the BMC has decided to take the cause one notch higher by offering a discount to people who have saved water in the last two years and award certificates of appreciation to residential societies who conserve water.



Facing a severe shortage of water because of less rainfall, the BMC has been thinking of various ways to spread the message of water conservation.

In December 2010, Congress corporator Vinod Shekhar had proposed that the BMC waive off some amount from water bills of housing societies who consume less water and spread the message of conservation.

Last Thursday, all the members of the corporation house unanimously supported the proposal and gave it a go-ahead.
u00a0
A BMC official said, "If people consume less water and do not waste water, then the entire city would receive proper water supply. Additionally, this new method is a good idea, as societies as a whole will act to preserve water."

Shekhar said, "These things act like incentives to an employee. People get motivated when they receive a discounted bill as well as receive a certificate of appreciation."

He added that the BMC should also grant permissions and funds for building ring wells in societies, as that also becomes a source of stored water in scarce times.

Deputy hydraulic engineer Prakash Kadam said, "We will now compare the water bills of residential societies from a year back to the current bills.

We will be able to identify, which society has made an attempt to save water and also which of them have carried out rainwater harvesting."

Batting for water
In 2010, master blaster Sachin Tendulkar was roped in by the BMC to save water. He starred in advertisements spreading the message of water conservation. The campaign was called Pani Vachwa Mumbai Jagwa or Pani ki Raksha, Mumbai ki Suraksha. The ad saw Sachin requesting citizens to have a bath with one bucket of water.u00a0