Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's public sector undertakings, large-scale private industries and domestic consumers owe crores in water dues to the Kerala Water Authority. As per data presented in the assembly, public sector undertakings owe ₹20.51 crore, government departments ₹114.51 crore, private industries ₹166.97 crore, and domestic consumers ₹319 crore.

Additionally, the Local Self Government Department (LSGD) owes a cumulative amount to the tune of ₹4,650 crore, accumulated between 2020 and August 2025.

Dues throughout the years (LSGD):

₹716.77 crore in 2020–2021
₹1,010.50 crore in 2021–2022
₹761.45 crore in 2022–2023
₹1,011.15 crore in 2023–2024
₹544.33 crore in 2024–2025
₹606.17 crore till August 2025

The LSGD also owes the KWA large sums for water used through public taps. 

The dues stand at:

• ₹296.34 crore for 2020–2021
• ₹328.34 crore for 2021–2022
• ₹330.42 crore for 2022–2023
• ₹441.06 crore for 2023–2024
• ₹458.50 crore for 2024–2025
• ₹125.71 crore till August 2025

During a meeting chaired by the LSGD Minister on October 23, 2024, it was decided to identify and verify all public taps to settle the dues. As part of this process, 1,27,725 public taps were geotagged. LSGD secretaries and KWA assistant engineers have been directed to identify non-functional taps. Once verified, bills will be recalculated accordingly. Hence, the reduction in the number of public taps is expected to lower the overall water charges.

As of July 31, 2025, the KWA’s Demand Collection Balance (DCB) report shows that domestic consumers owe ₹324.63 crore, non-domestic consumers ₹191.89 crore, industries ₹3.42 crore, miscellaneous dues ₹3.42 crore, special dues ₹4.87 crore, and LSGD public tap dues ₹588.98 crore. 

The DCB also shows that there are 43,71,35 domestic water pipe connections, of which 16,480 are damaged. The KWA said that non-functional meters do not cause financial losses since a surcharge is applied in such cases.