Cup half full: With old water rates, people are drowning in inflation

It has been a decade since the price of 1,000 gallons of water was fixed

KARACHI: Nobody in the city pays Rs340 for a 1,000-gallon tanker of water from hydrants operated by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, yet this is the official price of the tanker according to the KWSB’s rate.

The ‘official’ rates  include Rs140 as filling charges and Rs200 as contractor fees.  As a result, the KWSB’s price list for water hydrants, which has not been revised for almost a decade, is left open to intermittent revisions by the contractors.



Rashid Siddiqui, the official in-charge of KWSB’s water hydrants, said while the water board’s filling charges for a 1,000-gallon tanker of water was still Rs140, the cost of labour and fuel for transport and the contractor’s fee had gone up to Rs700, taking the price of the tanker up to Rs840 - the new ‘unofficial’ rate.

He admitted that the KWSB’s rates had not been revised for a very long time, “but sticking to the old rates would not be fair considering the price hike”.

But Siddiqui also admits that very few contractors actually adhered even to the unofficially revised rate. “Most contractors in the city charge at least Rs1,200 for a 1,000-gallon tanker… it is the government’s responsibility to check this.”

He said the responsibility to enforce the official rate did not lie with the KWSB. “They are set by water tanker owners themselves… we just collect Rs140 as filling charges for every 1,000 gallons of water.”



Commissioner Shoaib Siddiqui said the city administration had conducted an operation against illegal water hydrants to stop water theft. “If people still have complaints about being sold overpriced water, they should register their complaints at the commissioner’s office… we will look into them.”

Sikandar Awan, the owner of sub-soil water hydrants in Landhi, said contractors charged these inflated rates in collusion with water tanker owners. He alleged that several (illegal) hydrants in the city pumped water from main lines for more than the eight hours they were permitted daily. “If the KWSB installed digital meters at the main lines, they could keep track of the amount of water being pumped.” He said instead they [KWSB] chose to turn a blind eye to what the contractors were doing. “Even their own contractors fleece consumers,” he said.

KWSB’s Rashid Siddiqui said that digital meters cost up to millions of rupees and they did not have sufficient funds to install them at all hydrants.

Clifton Cantonment Board’s bulk water supply chief engineer Imran Khan said it was not just the illegal tanker mafia but also the legal water hydrants that earned billions of rupees through the illegal practice. “How can KWSB officials claim the moral high ground when so many of their own water hydrants earn millions of rupees through illegal means?” he asked.

Khan said that they had requested KWSB to crack down on illegal water hydrants in the city. “Not only has there been no action on that front but also these hydrants pump water round-the-clock from the main trunk lines,” he said.

“Due to massive pilferage from the main trunk line, our areas have been denied potable water for two years and people are compelled to pay inflated amounts for the water,” he said. Residents are tired of paying such high amounts. “We usually need three 1,000-gallon water tankers a month and a tanker costs up to Rs1500,” said Shahrukh, a resident of Defence Phase IV. “During periods of acute water shortage, we sometimes have to pay Rs3,000 for a tanker from a hydrant in Korangi.”

“Gone are the days, when we had free water flowing in our taps… now almost 80 per cent of the citizens purchase water through tankers… considering the lack of checks on it, one can only imagine how lucrative the business of selling water would be,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2014.