“Nearly 30 percent of the 2 million cubic metres of water from wells and other sources we dedicate is wasted in different ways every day,” Masood Karrash, who runs Erbil’s water department under the Ministry of Municipalities and Tourism, told Rudaw.
The government is installing water metres in order to institute a consumption-based fee schedule. According to official figures, about 69 percent of users have the metres now installed.
Karrash believes that, via the water metres, waste should be reduced, 240 million dinars ($200,000) can be saved daily, and problems of water shortages will be reduced.
“Our aim in installing these measurement devices is to limit the excessive usage of water and ensure adequate water supplies to every home and subscriber, rather than increase revenues,” he explained.
The daily cost for production and distribution of drinking water is about 800 million dinars ($670,000).
The government has signed contracts with private companies for the collection of water charges. Twenty percent of monies collected will be dedicated to the water departments and eighty percent will go into the government treasury.
Consumers who don’t install water metres will be fined and risk having their water cut off if they fail to pay.
The new water system will come into effect in early October 2018.
The Kurdistan Region has sufficient water resources, but experts warn that mismanagement, waste, pollution, and climate change put the resource at risk.
Iraq, which is heavily dependent on water sourced from outside its borders, is in a severe drought.
