Kathmandu, May 19:

As a part of reform in the water distribution system in Kathmandu Valley, a system of paying water tariff in advance is likely to be introduced soon.

On top of that, each customer will be bound to use water equivalent to the tariff already paid. This system might see three-fold rise in the consumption of water.

The Severn Trent International Water Limited, the controversy-ridden foreign company which is likely to take over the management of water supply system in Kathmandu Valley, is going to introduce the system from mid-July this year. As per the system, consumers will have to pay tariff in advance, without having any knowledge about the quality of the service.

In this connection, a Water Utility Operator (WUO), Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL), has already been set up to make contract with the foreign private party for the management of water distribution system here.

“With affect from July 16, the WUO will be authorised to make the new water customers pay an initial deposit equivalent to the water tariff not exceeding three month’s consumption at the rate of 20 cubic metres per month at the standard of 0.5 residential tariff,” the contract document has stated. In the present tariff system, each customer will pay Rs 50 per month for 10 cubic metres of water. The tariff for additional 10 cubic metre of water will be Rs 300 and on top of that there would be 50 per cent sewerage charge. No customer can pay tariff less than the value of five cubic metres of water.

“Nine hundred rupees advance payment for water? Rather than paying that much for water, I will prefer to take water from nearby Maru Hiti free of cost and will spend some money on purifying it,” said Indira Maharjan, a resident of Kankeshowri. She also said that the new system would be very expensive to poor and middle-class people, adding that nobody in her neighbourhood would be ready to subscribe to the costly pipelines.

Further, the system would require that customers use as much as water 20 cubic metres of water per month. For a family of five, the average water requirement can be put at 50 litres a day adding up to 7.5 cubic metres a month.