Water Supply In India

One of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the UN has to do with ensuring environmental sustainability. When it comes to providing the public access to safe drinking water in India, estimates shows that about 70% of rural India have no access to safe drinking water. Water availability at Indian cities are pathetic as well and India's capital, Delhi only gets 3 hours of water supply on a daily basis (APAC averages are at 19 hours/day). In urban India, most of the water is lost due to wastages. Per a study by McKinsey and KPMG, water wastage in Bangalore and Delhi are at 50 % and 43 % of total. Mumbai and Chennai fare better at 20% but thats still a lot of water given the quantum of water supply to these cities. 

Wastage may have something to do with tariffs. Higher is the cost of my using water, the more careful I will be about not wasting it. Urban water tariffs are very affordable in India. In fact, water tariff that is based on metering doesn't even hold good in most parts as either most meters don't work or simply because meters haven't been installed. The average residential tariff is at about 1.5 Rupees per cubic meter and thats is only about 1/10th of operating & maintenance costs. There are also various challenges faced and political interests often prevent tariffs from being increased even by a small extent although users may be willing to pay more for better services. When its comes to rural areas, cost recovery is low and consequently a majority of the rural water systems are non-functional for lack of maintenance compounding to the water problem. 

Various efforts to improve water supply in India have been attempted ranging from community led sanitation projects to private companies & public private partnerships providing water supply. Community led efforts have to do with incorporating the knowledge & opinions of rural people in the planning and management of development projects and water programs. Villages that achieve this status receive monetary rewards and high publicity. However this is not a quick fix intervention and can be very slow, time and energy consuming. Breaking down social & caste barriers, building awareness & strengthening demand and addressing the sometimes messy local political & power inequities are all part of the game. 

Privatization definitely has its benefits as well: increased efficiency and better service quality are the most evident. Water supply in Jamshedpur is one of the few cities in India with continuous water supply. Its water system is operated by the private company that is a subsidiary of Tata Steel. However, not every private company operates in the spirit of the Tatas and a regulator may therefore be necessary. 

As per the Indian Constitution , water supply and sanitation is a state responsibility and therefore states are responsible for its funding and finances. States then pass on this  responsibility to municipalities in urban areas and the Panchayats in rural areas and all of the planning and decision making is extremely centralized. At an advisory capacity level, the responsibility is shared across various ministries. At the central level, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation is responsible for urban water supply whereas the Ministry of Rural Development is responsible for rural water. 

The lack of a central regulator may well be the biggest hurdle today. Even given that private companies may be given freedom to choose how much to charge for providing water, someone still has to monitor the amount of water drawn, the source of water & its replenishment and the quality of water provided.