RAWALPINDI: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) has started a consumer survey in 61 union councils in the city aimed at not only tracing illegal connections but improving the quality of water being supplied to consumers.

Wasa Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood told Dawn that the basic aim of the survey was to update the consumer data available with the civic agency and get the feedback of the residents about the quality of water.

He said 120 officials of Wasa made door-to-door visits in 46 union councils of the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) and 15 union councils of the District Council.

He said that Chaudhry Safdar, the Wasa revenue director, would compile the survey report within a month and all the expenditures would be borne by the civic agency.

He said at present 116,000 consumers, including 18,000 commercial, were listed with Wasa and after getting the new data, the Wasa would be able to make plan for better water supply management and sewerage system in these areas.

“During the survey, the consumers will fill a performa, providing details of water supply schedule, its quality and name of the property owner. The information will help in detecting illegal connections besides ascertaining whether the property is residential or commercial,” he said.

He expressed the hope that the survey would help improve supply system and fee collection.

He said that the water tariff had not been increased for the last eight years and the Wasa administration was constrained to improve the recovery by bringing more consumers into tax net.

Published in Dawn January 24th, 2017