Kochi Corporation to survey public taps to curb water bills

The Kochi Corporation is set to commission a survey to identify unused and illegally installed public taps, while steps will also be taken to geo-tag and meter those currently in use.

The decision was taken following discussions at the last council meeting, where the drain on the Corporation’s coffers caused by ‘superfluous’ public taps came in for criticism.

According to a letter issued by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) on November 6, 2025, there were 5,444 public taps within the city limits, based on which the Corporation has been making a monthly payment of nearly ₹1 crore.

“The Corporation overseer has been directed to submit a report on public taps within a month, in coordination with Junior Health Inspectors, who have been tasked with conducting a division-wise survey with the support of the respective councillors. We will provide the KWA with the actual number of public taps required, after which payments will be made only for those taps, based on their metered usage,” said Mayor V.K. Minimol.

The KWA has yet to respond to a letter issued by the Corporation on July 8, 2025, seeking details on the number of functional public taps and those fitted with meters. As a request for a joint inspection to ascertain these figures has also gone unanswered, the Corporation has now decided to carry out the survey on its own.

The Corporation believes that retaining public taps only in areas where they are genuinely required will substantially reduce its monthly water charges. Until the previous State government completely wrote off the water charge arrears, the Corporation had to set aside around ₹5 crore from its Plan fund annually to meet the dues.

LDF calls for ‘care’ in survey

V.A. Sreejith, LDF parliamentary party leader, said that while the move was justified, utmost care should be taken to ensure that no tap used even by a single family was removed. “There are gaps in household water connectivity, especially in certain colonies where families depend entirely on public taps. Efforts to bridge this gap should go hand in hand with the proposed exercise,” he said.

The issue was raised during the council meeting by councillor V.P. Chandran, who expressed concern over successive council decisions on the matter remaining unimplemented over the years.

Councillor M.G. Aristotle said fresh water charge liabilities should not be allowed to accumulate again. He also stressed the need to complete the identification of unused taps before the French water utility agency Suez fully takes over the water distribution network in the Corporation area, “after which the exercise may become difficult.”

“Currently, our survey is focussed on assessing water demand and detecting unauthorised connections. We have not collected any data on public taps so far,” sources with Suez said.