Smart city Bhubaneswar to get water meters from October

The housing and urban development department has sanctioned Rs 115 crore for the installation of water meters at households and commercial establishments in the state.

The Public Health Engineering Organisation (Pheo) will use the meters to calculate and collect water cess from consumers. The installation of the water meters will begin in Bhubaneswar in the first week of October and later be extended to various parts of the state.

In the smart city Bhubaneswar, the Pheo will install nearly 72,000 water meters in two phases. The first phase will cover the commercial establishments, while the domestic ones will be covered in the second phase.

Now, the Pheo calculates bills based on the number of taps a consumer has. But it is difficult to ascertain whether the consumer had increased the number of taps beyond the permissible limit. “The water meters will be able to calculate the exact bill amount,” the official said.

Sources said, a domestic consumer will pay Rs 3.94 per thousand litre of water, while a commercial establishment will pay Rs 13.03. Sand art museum in Odisha’s Puri to attract international tourists