Amit Dutta speaks at the event on Tuesday Picture by Sanat Kr Sinha

The city should start saving water instead of wasting it while it is still available, said an environmental engineer at a discussion on water challenges here on Tuesday.

There should be water meters across homes to curb water wastage because many in the city still do not care to turn the tap off or reuse water because it is abundantly available, Jadavpur University professor Amit Dutta said.

He was speaking at Calcutta Management Association presents Knowledge Exchange Series in association with The Telegraph on the theme “Mission Paani: Why Water Challenges Should Worry You”.

“In Calcutta, there is water loss of up to 30 to 40 per cent because of leaking pipes or even unauthorised connection. Most people do not reuse the water left after washing or care to turn the tap off. If there is water metering where people have to pay a price, there could be less wastage,” said Dutta.

The other speaker at the programme was Preeyam Budhia, president, business development, Patton Group, who spoke on the need for water conservation and the sustainable projects undertaken by her group.

Water meters have been installed in houses across six wards of north Calcutta but residents do not have to pay for what they use. The meters give the civic body a measure of how much water is wasted every day.

According to a report in Metro last year, water meters in 1,000 houses across north Calcutta, which were part of a pilot project, had shown that the average resident uses water four times the national consumption benchmark, pointing to a huge waste.

“The scarcity of water is a concern across the globe. Water is something we can’t do without but unfortunately most of us take it for granted,” said the president of Calcutta Management Association, Amitabha Datta.