Water woes is one of the things which every apartment complex encounters irrespective of their location. How many times have you got into an argument with your watchman or your managing committee because of insufficiency of water or due to the rising cost? So What's the conclusion? You either blame insufficient rains or simply denunciate it on the managing committee. Well, this Apartment Complex called Samhita Square, who took it in their hands to bring down their water bills. This Slideshare portrays a detailed case study of Water Metering for Individual Flats in Samhita Square, a 95 apartment community. It was Presented by Mr.James Jacob, Management Committee Member of Samhita Square during ApartmentADDA Water Workshop conducted on 21-June-2014. Thus A small step was taken towards better apartment management through water management. Check the entire blog details here: http://apartmentadda.com/blog/blog/2015/01/16/how-residents-of-samhita-square-solved-their-water-woes/ Watch Mr. James Jacob from Samhita Square speak about their feat here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rnXvz-T2qkg

2. Case Study – Water Metering.
• Our Apartment Located at Basavanagar, 2 Km away from
Old Airport Road
• 95 Apartments in 2 Blocks in a 1 Acre Land
• Basement + 4 Apartments–in–a–column construction.

3. To Start with..
• Occupancy started in 2008
• 3 Yielding Borewells
• Water Softener installed in 2009 since
Borewell yield was coloured Hard Water
• Self sufficient ( water supply ) till 2011

4. Rain Water Harvesting
• Attended ADDA Water Workshop in Feb 2012.
Decided to Execute the Rainwater Harvesting at
the apartment.
• Rain water Harvesting completed in June 12. Inline
Filters Installed. Filtered water from Terrace-
routed to the sump. This would be filtered again by
the Softener’s Filter stage before feeding the
apartments.
• On Moderate rainy Days ( 30 minutes Rain )
Capacity was full. On those days, we could reduce
the Borewell usage and Electricity consumption by
50%

5. Inflection Point
• 2012 Summer – We faced reduced yield from the
Bore-wells and Increased Electricity Consumption
for pumping.

6. Status during 2012 – 2nd Half
• Scanty Rains - Only about 7 rainfalls received that
could fill the RWH capacity.
• Started procuring water by Tanker from Sept 12 .
Additional amount of Rs. 700 collected from each
apartment per month, towards Water Purchase
• 5 Hour Night Water disruption started officially in
Oct 12. ( In reality , disruptions started much earlier )
• New Borewell (950 ft.) dug in Oct 12 and operational
in Dec 12 . But the yield was not at all sufficient to
meet the demand.
• Electricity Usage for Water pumping had become
very high.
• Bore-well Motors failed twice.

7. Reaction from Resident Community
• Huge Unrest from Residents about Water
disruption.
• Disruption in Water supply triggers much wastage of
water. People collect water and store in containers.
And throw away stored water when supply resumes
and collects again.
• Genuine Users starved of water ( Early Office Goers,
Late Returnees)
• Leaky Flush Tanks, Forgotten open Taps add to the
woes.
• Judicious users not at all benefitted of their frugality.
• Demand for more Tankers. Opposed by those who
consume less.

8. 2012-13 – Water-Electricity Consumption
Sep-12 Oct-12 Nov-12 Dec-12 Jan-13 Feb-13 Mar-13 Apr-13 May-13 Jun-13 Jul-13 Aug-13
No. of Tankers of Water Purchased
( Each Tanker Appx 6000 Litres)
110 111 110 112 110 111 110 115 128 130 142
Electricity Consumption (units) 9550 8919 9307 10774 9555 10623 7953 7461 8686 8861 9284 8778
Electricity Bill ( 1000 Rs ) 56.54 52.83 55.11 63.79 56.57 62.85 47.39 44.26 54.30 55.26 57.89 54.74
No. of Hours of disruption in Water
Supply
5 5 5 5 5 8 8 8 8 8 5
- Water Disruption : From Oct 12 : 5 Hrs ( 12 am to 5 am ) From 2nd march 13, 3 More Hours added ( 2 pm to 5 pm )

9. Bold Step - Water Metering Proposed
• Water metering proposed in the April ‘13 GB
Meeting
• Each Overhead Tank had two compartments– Main (
Borewell Water ) & ‘Kaveri’ ( meant for storing
Corporation Water supply obtainable in Future.)
• Each Apt. was fed by two sets of Supply Pipes
 3 to 4 utility points in the Apartments (Kitchen, Bathrooms
/ Balcony ) fed by a header pipe from the main tank.
 Another point at the Kitchen sink fed by the Kaveri Tank
header )
• Decided to keep them as Separate Circuits and
provide 2 individual meters for each apartment
• Cost Proposed – Rs. 18,000 /- per Apt.
• Biggest challenge was in modifying the entire
Plumbing lines for the Metering Requirement.

10. Water Metering Project - Chronicles
• Water metering approved in the GB Meeting ( April ’13)
• Layout plan , Vendor Finalisation, Material Procurement -
(May to June ‘13)
• Metering Plumbing Work started in the 3rd Week of June
‘13.
• First Block Ready for Trial in Sept ‘13.
• 2nd Block Ready for Trial in Oct ‘13.
• Two weeks Full Trial in Oct 2nd Half. Data for each week
about their consumption and probable bill at that rate of
consumption was shared to Users.
• Metering formally started in Nov ‘13. First Bill Raised on
Dec 1st 2013.
• Total Cost of Project = 19.2 Lakhs . Per Apt Share = Rs.
20,000/-
( Increased expenses due to the mid course decision to change Horizontal Terrace
Headers from GI to CPVC. Original Plan was to retain the GI Header pipes at Terrace.)

11. 1.5” GI Header Pipe ( From Main
section of O/H Tank )
1.25” GI Header Pipe From Kaveri
O/H Tank.
Single Feeder pipes running
down and branching
to Utility points
of all Apts in
that column
( Telescopic Plumbing
with a single GI Valve)
Old Plumbing Arrangement at Terrace ,
for a column of 3 BHK Apartments

12. Typical Terrace layout Plan for the Modified Water metering Plumbing Line
for a Column of 3 BHK Apartments
This column had 4 Apartments
T0 – T3 are the ¾” meters for Main Line . t0 to t3 are the ½” meters for the Kaveri Line.
1.5” Pipe Line
1” Pipe Line
Valve
1.25” Pipe Line
3/4” Pipe Line
T3
T2
T1
T0
t3 t2 t1 t0
T3
t0 Meters
Single pipes leading to
Individual Apartments
From Terrace Top

13. BEFORE AFTER
Single vertical feeder pipe, from
the Horizontal Header at Terrace.
Horizontal pipes branch out to
feed utility points comng
in a column of apartments.
Individual vertical feeder pipes,
from the Apartment’s Meter on
the Terrace to the apartment’s
utility points

14. Pipe Routing through Terrace
Meter Chamber

15. Monthly Charges Structure
Consumption Slabs
Paise per
Litre
Max amount
payable in
this slab (Rs.)
Water charges for
highest consumer
falling in this
Slab(Rs.)From To
0 1000
Flat amount
of Rs. 50/-
50 50
1001 8000 5 350 400
8001 16000 7 560 960
16001 20000 8 320 1280
20001 22000 10 200 1480
22001 12 sky
Monthly charges of apartments bifurcated to the following components:
 a Fixed component for Maintenance Expenses
 a variable component based on the Water Consumption of the
apartment of previous month, as per the below Tariff Structure.

16. Metering – Before and After
BEFORE TRIAL AFTER
Mar-13 Apr-13 May-13 Jun-13 Jul-13 Aug-13 Sep-13 Oct-13 Nov-13 Dec-13 Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14
No. of Tankers of Water
Purchased ( Each Tanker Appx
6000 Litres) @ Rs. 600/- per
Tanker
111 110 115 128 130 142 70 54 34 31 33 28 30 14
Water obtained from Kaveri
supply ( Supply started in Dec 13)
( In Equivalent Tankers )
5.7 23.8 19.5 20.5 46.2
Electricity Consumption (KWH) 7953 7461 8686 8861 9284 8778 8056 7144 6130 6317 5747 5859 6012 6248
Electricity Bill ( 1000 Rs )
( Cost @Rs..6.15 per KWH)
47.39 44.26 54.30 55.26 57.89 54.74 50.27 44.62 38.33 39.49 35.95 36.65 37.60 39.06
No. of Hours of disruption in
Water Supply 8 8 8 8 8 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Per Apt - Per Day consumption
Average ( Litres)
Unknown ( But definitely Higher) 619 547 495 463 481 487 489 475
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
No. of Tankers of Water Purchased ( Each
Tanker Appx 6000 Litres)
Water obtained from Kaveri supply
( In Equivalent Tankers )
Electricity Bill ( 1000 Rs )
No. of Hours of disruption in Water Supply
Per Apt - Per Day consumption Average (
HectoLitres)

17. Fruits of Labor
Average Electricity consumption for 8 months prior to Metering (KWH) 8278
Corresponding Cost
( @ Rs. 6.15 per unit ) 50,910.00
Average Electricity consumption for 6 months After Metering ( KWH) 6052
Corresponding Cost
( @ Rs. 6.15 per unit ) 37,220.00
Average Reduction in consumption consequent to Metering
(KWH) 2226
Corresponding Average Savings per month
( @ Rs. 6.15 per unit ) 13,690.00
Reduction in Electricity Consumption
Reduction in water procurement from outside
Average procurement of Tankers for 8 months prior to Metering 107
Average procurement of Water from outside : Tanker + Kaveri supply
(which Started in Dec 13 ) : for 6 months after metering
( No. of Tanker Equivalent ) 48
Note :
 20% Apparent reduction in Apartment -Per-day consumption averages between
Trial period Vs. Post Metering period. Considering the higher consumption prior
to the Trial period, the Actual %ge reduction is still higher.
 Presently No water is sourced by Tankers. Consumption is exclusively met by the
Borewell yield and Corporation Water supply.
 As against 5 to 8 Hours of Water disruption prior to Metering , Now there is
continuous Water Supply round the clock.

18. Members from occupied Apartments , wishing to implement Water Metering :
• Study your Apartment Plumbing Layout. Each Apartment is Unique. No
Common Solution.
• Design a system best suited for your requirement. For this , visit the
Existing Installations, Discuss with people involved and collect as much
information as possible.
• Procure Meters beforehand and try out tests , to assess suitability.
Suggestions for Implementation of
Water Metering System
Builders –
• When you construct the Apartment, make the Plumbing
system in such a way that metering can be implemented
easily.
For any further information, please contact :
james_jacob2000@yahoo.com

19. We are thankful to
• Our Resident community , who trusted in us that we can implement a
solution for their problem.
• Mr. Kannan Venkatachalam
(http://apartmentadda.com/blog/champions/2011/04/29/story-of-32-water-meters/)
• and several other apartment owners in our vicinity , who had implemented
Water metering systems at their apartments prior to us , and took their time
off to share with us their pitfalls and laurels.
• Contractors and Vendors who were involved in the Project.
• Those who spoke in the Apartment Adda Water Workshops, enlightened and
encouraged us.
• And to the Team at Apartment Adda for bringing all of us together.