Kochi Corporation to survey public taps to curb water bills

image to represent | Photo credit: KK MUSTAFAH

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

The decision was taken after discussions at the last council meeting, where the drain on the corporate coffers caused by “redundant” public taps came under criticism.

According to a letter issued by the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) on 6 November 2025, there were 5,444 public taps in the city on which the company was making a monthly payment of nearly ₹1 million.

“The superintendent of the corporation has been directed to submit a report on the public taps within a month in coordination with the junior health inspectors who have been tasked with conducting a divisional survey with the support of the respective councillors. We will provide KWA with the actual number of public taps required, then payments will be made only for these taps based on their measured usage,” Mayor VK Minimol said.

KWA is yet to respond to a letter issued by the corporation on July 8, 2025, seeking details of the number of functional public taps and those fitted with meters. As the request for a joint inspection to ascertain these numbers also remained unanswered, the corporation has now decided to conduct a survey on its own.

The company believes that leaving public water taps only in areas where they are really needed will significantly reduce its monthly water bills. Until the previous state government completely wrote off the arrears of water charges, the corporation had to set aside around ₹ 5 crore annually from its plan budget to pay the charges.

LDF calls for “care” in survey.

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

The issue was raised during a council meeting by councilor VP Chandran, who expressed concern over the council’s subsequent decisions on the matter, which remained unimplemented over the years.

Councilor MG Aristoteles stated that liabilities from drinking water fees should not be accumulated again. He also stressed the need to complete the identification of disused taps before the French water agency Suez fully takes over the water distribution network in the corporation’s area, “after that the exercise may be difficult”.

“Currently, our survey is focused on assessing water demand and detecting unauthorized connections. We have not yet collected any data on public taps,” Suez sources said.

Published – 13 Oct 2026 11:53 IST