PWD minister Nilesh Cabral said that the government’s scheme of providing up to 16,000 litres of free water will be extended to those living in residential complexes with multiple dwelling units.
“I have instructed officials to see that those in residential complexes also get the benefit of the scheme,” Cabral told . “Officials have been told to calculate their water usage and bills accordingly. So far, only independent houses were getting the benefit of the scheme.”
The scheme, which was implemented from September 1 last year, pertains to households having to pay a zero bill if they limit their water usage to up to 16,000 liters a month. However, large residential complexes with multiple dwelling units could not benefit from the scheme due to issues like shared water meters.
In Goa, the water consumption of an average urban household is 170 litres per person per day, and for rural households, it is 70 litres per person per day.
For a family of four, this works out to usage of around 21,000 litres or 21 cubic metres of water per month for an urban household of four persons and around 8,500 litres or 8.5 cubic metres per month for a rural household.
As per the scheme introduced from September 1 by chief minister Pramod Sawant, households limiting their drinking water usage to up to 16,000 litres will be issued zero water bills. Any usage above 16,000 litres means that consumers are charged a rate of Rs 3.5 to Rs 15 per cubic meter depending on the usage.
It had been said at the time of introduction of the scheme that for residential complexes with multiple dwelling units and a single water connection, the total usage would be divided by the number of flats. However, the benefit was not actually passed on to such units.