Improving Urban Water Supply System, a Distinct Future, Call to Decide Destiny!

Efficiency is a buzz word and has been much used for enhancing urban water supply system from intermittent to 24×7 water supply system in developing countries like India.

Since 2007, Government, funding agencies and practicing consultants had put in many efforts and tried to develop and implement 24×7 water supply projects in many Indian cities without considering the limited resources with city or state governments like limited availability of water and cost to fetch it from long distances, finance required for infrastructure, human resource and technological knowhow, user willingness and ability to pay for better services and knowledge to implement the project successfully in a time bound manner. This ultimately resulted in failure in implementation of the projects and in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and meeting the political and social expectations. The important objective of 24×7 water supply is to optimise water use including reduced contamination and assured quality water delivery at a reasonable price. There is not a single city in India having quality in the services at par to present as an example before the world. This is the reality and must be addressed by central and state governments jointly in order to stand tall among the world.

24×7 water supply is a destination which shall happen at the end of the successful implementation of the system upgradation project step by step making water supply system fit for continuous water supply, transforming hardware-system infrastructure, instrumentation, sensors, etc. and software-user and water management practice in a cost-effective manner. It can be started by diagnosis of the infrastructure and developing system improvement plan which covers reducing water and energy losses first in the selected pilot areas, achieving control over the system. In the second stage, further expansion of the pilot project and repetition can be done till the system completely transforms satisfactorily at the city level. It is about system transformation and takes time.

Water utilities are facing high amount of water losses and non-revenue water in the range of 40 to 60%.Therefore to reduce it, the first step is to have command over the quantification (volume of water handled in the system)which is very important. It can be developed by using proper water flow measuring instruments selected to meet the desired accuracy considering the budget available. The measured water flow readings must be recorded in a scientific manner and analysed properly. The quantification can be done by two methods, tabulation and accounting. The tabulation method is good at an initial stage to have a water balancing idea but at a later stage, water accounting is the accurate method to have holistic water auditing and sustainable and judicious water use as a natural resource. It facilitates analytical reports necessary to support the decision and policy makers, and simple indicators to understand all the consumers to ensure their trust.

Smart ICT applications and effective use of advanced technology available has enough potential to address these issues in a cost-effective manner. Many cities have now mapped infrastructure and household service connections using GIS and Remote Sensing Technology. Metering and consumer awareness needs to be addressed properly. Cities are at the threshold of upgradation of the service and this needs Central and state governments’ attention. The provision and declaration under AMRUT and SMART city schemes are not sufficient in view of the magnitude, complexity and scale of the problems.

An integrated approach is necessary to have water leak detection and prevention, quantification and auditing on a single platform-Integrated Water Accounting Platform (IWAP). IWAP would give uniform system at national level and be useful in meeting the challenges and in implementation of the projects. Integrated approach is proven in improving the water supply services not only in the advanced countries like the U.S.A., Singapore, Australia, and in Europe but in small countries in the developing world like Vietnam, Philippines and South Africa too.  IWAP development requires dedicated multi-disciplinary teamwork by researchers, industry and government officials and of course funding support to develop it. Water is a state subject and availability of research funding is nil.

India is a water-stressed nation. Water is a state subject where the state has ultimate authority over many water related issues. Water is important to meet the states’ ambitions to improve the quality of life and to drive industrial and economic growth. These states must form innovative partnerships to meet their needs in the context of growing scarcity, increased pollution, and interstate conflict to meet the development needs.

In particularly, large Indian cities like New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad are to be covered on priority because of increasing dependency on limited water resources available and its adverse effect on meeting the agriculture and industrial water demand. There is urgent need to review and work out the national level action plan and implementation program in a time bound manner keeping accountability at the centre. In second stage all the smart cities and water stressed cities may be covered.

Water hubs may be created in each state which work on the multi-disciplinary aspects where there is potential for job creation in lakhs; skill development and public awareness programs may be implemented through these hubs.

Who will address this need? Government/s, United Nations, World Bank, Corporates, NGOs? It is a question before the leading academicians, domain experts and professionals including a few officials working on improving urban water supply system in Indian cities and associated with the subject. IWAP has very distinct future.