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Urban Water Governance in fragments

As cities across India face escalating water crises, the need for effective urban water governance becomes crucial. This article delves into the challenges of water governance at the local level and potential solutions.

Many cities across India are grappling with severe water crises, with Bengaluru being a particularly dire example. However, Bengaluru is not an isolated case. The rising heat is leading to the drying up of water sources. As many as 170 urban local bodies (ULBs) in Madhya Pradesh are facing drinking water paucity. Limiting water supply to alternate days is an unavoidable option for them. Indore and Ujjain are the worst hit among them. Meghalaya too is staring at an impending water supply crisis, especially in Shillong and Tura. Groundwater has gone significantly low in most regions of India; surface water bodies are either polluted or have dried up; rainwater harvesting as a practice isn’t implemented on a large scale yet. All in all, the state of water in the cities is in dire straits.

Restricting the water to a few hours a day or alternate days is the most common strategy used by local bodies to manage this crisis. Where even this isn’t possible, water is supplied through water tankers from a faraway source. But the cities can’t keep outsourcing water. Apart from long-term conservation efforts, the governance structure of water needs to be strengthened at the national, state, and local levels. An alarming 97 million Indians lack access to safe drinking water, underscoring the urgency of the situation (WHO). According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, less than 10 per cent of the towns covered in the first national-level tap water study, the Pey Jal Survekshan, delivered 100 per cent clean water to their inhabitants. The main sources of drinking water in urban areas are piped water supply (54 per cent), tubewells or borewells (16), and public taps (12).

Effective Water Governance

According to recent reports, approximately 52 per cent of Lucknow does not receive water supplies from the state. Despite plans being submitted to the government to augment water supply, the release of the necessary budget has been delayed, forcing residents to endure significant hardship amidst rising temperatures. The Water Supply Department is completely based on river water. The city requires about 750 million litres per day (MLD) of water daily, but only 400 MLD of water is available daily from the irrigation department from the Gomti River and Sharda Auxiliary Canal. The remaining water is supplied through tube wells.

It is visibly clear that the governance of water in India is predominantly a crisis of management and administration, as suggested by the Global Water Partnership and echoed by major international bodies like the United Nations, the World Bank, and the OECD.

Supply challenges

Some of the most obvious problems with the water supply in Indian cities are poor pressure, irregular supplies, inadequate coverage, unequal distribution, and subpar quality. The reason why cities are water-stressed is because the urban systems we’ve created disrupt the natural water cycle. Massive concretization prevents groundwater recharge, while apathy towards water bodies has rendered the surface water in most cities unusable. Industries and offices also require large quantities of water, apart from densely populated residential complexes. All this creates a large gap between demand and supply.

In addition to having a lower water supply than demand, Indian towns experience considerable leakage losses, according to the Centre for Science and Environment report Excreta Matters. For example, in Agra, only 94 litres per capita per day (LPCD) of the 171 LPCD of water that needs to be distributed to customers reach users after losses. Official leakage losses include 40 per cent in Udaipur and up to 44 per cent in Jaipur, where inefficient distribution methods result in the loss of up to 153 million litres of water per day (MLD). This is called non-revenue water (NRW), which is a huge cause of concern the world over.

Key stakeholders

Water supply is a state subject, so the Central Government is only responsible for setting the water quality standards. Water supply in most cities is primarily the responsibility of the local authorities. It is up to the state government to establish departments and/or special agencies to supply domestic and drinking water to urban and rural areas. In many metropolitan areas, this task is managed by city-level water supply and sewerage boards, specifically established to oversee these critical services. Typically, a state-level organisation, such as the Public Health Engineering Department/Division (PHED) or a state-level water supply and sewerage board, undertakes the capital work. Upon completion of the construction, operational and maintenance (O&M) responsibilities are transferred to the local government. In some cities, the local government handles revenue collection while state-level agencies manage capital projects along with ongoing operations and maintenance.

In Uttar Pradesh, for instance, Jal Nigam is entrusted with rural water supply, while Jal Sansthan (earlier known as Jalkal Vibhag) is responsible for urban water supply. Jal Sansthan in UP cities is a part of the urban local body.

Way forward

Enhanced coordination between different departments and municipalities is essential to addressing water-related issues more effectively. By segregating water supply according to its usage at the local neighbourhood level, we can optimise the use of our water resources without risking overexploitation.

Many of us who have spent our lives in the city often take our resources for granted. Electricity and a constant water supply are used freely. This is in stark contrast to rural areas, where the journey from water source to homes is much shorter. Urban dwellers need to cultivate a deeper awareness of where our resources come from and the processes involved in delivering them to our homes. Fostering a stronger connection between people and their resources could provide a better incentive for people to conserve and preserve.