Now, HWRA to decide bulk water tariff earlier done by government in Haryana

chandigarh: The Haryana government, under the leadership of Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar had established Haryana Water Resources Authority (HWRA) in the year 2020 for the conservation and sustainable use of water resources in the State. The bulk water tariff was earlier determined by the government before the Authority came into being, now the mandate to decide the bulk water tariff has been vested with the Authority.

The tariff revision is a long-drawn process and on a prior occasion, the tariff had been revised in the year 2012 and lately in 2018 by the government and the latest revision of bulk rates has been done by the Authority via recent notification dated 15.07.2022.

Chairperson, Haryana Water Resources Authority, Keshni Anand Arora, informed that earlier the mandate of the Authority was to recommend the bulk water tariff, and recently the government has passed the Amendment Act, 2022 under which the authority has been given the mandate to fix the bulk water tariff.

This signifies the commitment of the government for the sustainable use of water resources in the state. The government also mandated the authority for the enforcement and implementation of the Treated Waste Water Policy of the government. The tariff has been decided on the principles of economy, efficiency, equity, and sustainability for bulk use of surface water and treated wastewater. The tariff is based on volumetric measurement of water consumption and will be designed suitably.

Arora further informed that the authority consulted with the Department of Irrigation and Water Resources (I&WRD) and Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) to decide the bulk water and treated wastewater tariff by the authority. She added that the decision was taken so as to arrive at a

more optimal and rational proposed tariff.

Chief Executive Officer, Haryana Water Resources Authority, Satbir Singh Kadian, while discussing the details of revised water rates said that rate revision is a normal procedure that must be amended over time while taking intervention elements such as availability, usage, and supply of water resources into consideration.

First the rates were revised in the year 2012, then in 2018 and after the establishment of the authority in the year 2020 now the authority has the mandate to fix the tariff. A notification explaining the justification for the tariff increase has been made available. It is predicted that other industries, power plants, and bulk consumers would pay 2.35 times more in 2018 than they did in

2012, while the beverage and bottling sectors will pay roughly 5 times more.

The fold was revised down to about 5 times for drinking water, 2.35 times for other industries and power plants and bulk users. Now, the department has proposed to increase the tariff by 2.5 times in case of bulk water supply to industries and 5.0 times for drinking water, as compared to the prevailing tariff of 2018.