The Meter Servicing and Testing Lab of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board at Malleswaram, which was shut down five years ago, will be reopened this year. A sum of Rs 21 lakh has been sanctioned by the BWSSB Board for its revival.

According to reliable sources, malfunctioning equipment and acute staff shortage led to the closure of the lab in 2003. It functioned inside the premises of Combined Jewel Filters at 18th Cross. Following the recent decision taken by the board, tenders will be called for shortly to repair the test benches inside the lab and to update it.

The lab is expected to start functioning in six months’ time.

The lab, in its new avatar, will only be used for calibration (checking the correctness) of new water meters procured from North India and cross-check the reading accuracy of a water meter when individual complaints are made. When it began functioning in the early seventies, it was used in a big way to set right complaints regarding faulty meters from consumers. It also helped in detecting meter tampering done mostly by commercial establishments either on their own or with the assistance of meter readers.

“The reopening is being done only as a move to enhance customer satisfaction by checking the new products being bought,” a highly placed source said.

Multi-jet meters

Another major decision taken by the Board is to install multi-jet water meters all over the City from April. “These meters, belonging to the ‘Actries’ brand,  have a much higher accuracy level than the single jet meters used presently. All those who go in for new connections will be fitted only with these meters. Each of these meters costs Rs 810,” an official said. By contrast, the ‘Precimag’ meters, installed everywhere now, costs only Rs 550 a piece.

The long-term objective is to provide these meters for all the 5.5 lakh water connections (February end statistics) in the City. Consumers who ask for replacement of existing meters will be fitted only with the new ones.

The single jet meters are sealed with kits and can only be replaced with new ones if  any defect is found. “They cannot be set right at the lab as was the case with the mechanical meters used since 1974,” another source said. That was one of the reasons why there was no hurry by the BWSSB to reopen the testing lab, he opined.

The same would apply in the case of multi-jet meters, he added.