FAISALABAD, Oct 4: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has demanded a “tariff adjustment formula” to adjust water and sewerage rates according to increase in costs of various inputs.

In a briefing given to the district Nazim, the Wasa managing director said the agency was maintaining over 10 million gallons reservoir in addition to over 1,100-kilometre long sewer lines.

The annual operational deficit of Wasa was Rs70 million, he said, adding that its operating expenditure depended on the cost of electricity, POL prices, salaries of the staff and other day-to-day expenditures. Non-payment of bills also added financial burden on Wasa, he added.

He said Wasa was not a profit earning organization. It supplied water and sewer facilities at the most reasonable rates.

In some cases, it was charging much below than its actual cost, he said.

He regretted that Wapda was providing electricity to Wasa on industrial rates. He demanded that Wapda should charge agriculture tariff instead of industrial tariff.

The Wasa MD suggested that one more magistrate should be posted to dispose of over 15,000 pending cases. He hoped that it would increase Wasa’s income by discouraging consumers to delay payment of bills.

He said the sewerage system was badly affected due to development of over 120 unapproved private colonies. Scattered and haphazardly located industries were also discharging highly toxic effluent in Wasa lines.

The MD said special funds should be provided while ADP loan be converted into grant-in-aid to help Wasa come out of the financial crisis.—APP