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Defective water meters will be repaired
By Xu Chi |
July 17, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
RESIDENTS who believe their water meters are defective can ask engineers to check them for free, Zhang Jiayi, director of the Shanghai Water Authority, said on Thursday.
The problem was highlighted after a resident complained that he was paying about 20 percent more for water as his meter didn't work properly.
Zhang said the engineers would help residents fix or replace meters if problems were found.
Zhang also promised that residents would be reimbursed if they were overcharged for water due to defective meters.
Residents can call the water supply hotline 962740 to apply for a water meter check.
Zhang said meters should be replaced every six years.
Shanghai has more than 5 million water meters, and regulations require the replacement of 1 million meters every year.
To date, only 860,000 meters had been replaced in the past two years.
Zhang asked for the public's understanding over the unfinished task as they were dealing with a huge number of meters.
According to another water official, an accumulation of waste in water pipelines can also lead to inflated water bills. He said the waste increases the water pressure, thus making the meter run faster.
Meanwhile, the authority promised a sufficient supply of water for the city's downtown areas including the World Expo site even though more people are in town for the event.
Maximum water demand in the downtown area is estimated at 6.9 million tons per day, much lower than the city's capacity of 7.58 million tons, said Gu Jinshan, deputy general manager of Shanghai Chengtou Corp, a major utilities company that owns most of the city's water plants.
Gu also said better water purification equipment would be installed in plants by 2012.
The problem was highlighted after a resident complained that he was paying about 20 percent more for water as his meter didn't work properly.
Zhang said the engineers would help residents fix or replace meters if problems were found.
Zhang also promised that residents would be reimbursed if they were overcharged for water due to defective meters.
Residents can call the water supply hotline 962740 to apply for a water meter check.
Zhang said meters should be replaced every six years.
Shanghai has more than 5 million water meters, and regulations require the replacement of 1 million meters every year.
To date, only 860,000 meters had been replaced in the past two years.
Zhang asked for the public's understanding over the unfinished task as they were dealing with a huge number of meters.
According to another water official, an accumulation of waste in water pipelines can also lead to inflated water bills. He said the waste increases the water pressure, thus making the meter run faster.
Meanwhile, the authority promised a sufficient supply of water for the city's downtown areas including the World Expo site even though more people are in town for the event.
Maximum water demand in the downtown area is estimated at 6.9 million tons per day, much lower than the city's capacity of 7.58 million tons, said Gu Jinshan, deputy general manager of Shanghai Chengtou Corp, a major utilities company that owns most of the city's water plants.
Gu also said better water purification equipment would be installed in plants by 2012.
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