Maharashtra?s Sujal Nirmal Abhiyan, a good example of a state-led integrated water and sanitation management programme, covers all 250 cities except Mumbai?it will take some doing but 152 urban bodies are already engaged in a stringent reforms schedule
Isher Judge Ahluwalia
Water and sanitation are core basic needs of any society. No amount of spending on healthcare facilities would suffice if we do not have clean drinking water and adequate arrangements for safe disposal of waste. The state of water and sanitation in Indian cities is abysmal, more so when there is increasing evidence that it does not take a great deal to transform the situation.
Thanks to the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) launched by the Government of India in December 2005, the poor state of service delivery in Indian cities has been a subject of much discussion and some action. The Mission used project-oriented fund transfers as a driver of change for reforms at the state and the urban local body (ULB) level to improve the condition of Indian cities. JNNURM has been an experience in learning by doing for all concerned. A full appraisal of the Mission will come as the projects are completed and the outcomes assessed, but the Mission has certainly raised the ambition of Indian cities The most important contribution of JNNURM has been to inject a new dynamism in the much neglected urban sector and establish credibility that service delivery in Indian cities can be transformed. The good news is that some local and state level responses are emerging, and are worthy of adaptation and emulation. This column has presented a number of case studies of urban transformation.
Maharashtra Sujal Nirmal Abhiyan (MSNA) is a good example of a state-led program of integrated management of water and sanitation in the era of JNNURM. It covers all ULBs (a total of 250 cities) except Mumbai for delivering water (24×7) and sanitation in a sustainable manner. Mumbai?s problems and challenges are to be addressed separately. Maharashtra used the occasion of its golden jubilee year celebrations in 2010 to launch the Maharashtra
Sujal Nirmal Abhiyan (MSNA). The program is being implemented by the Maharashtra Department of Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation with
support from Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP).
Three sets of reforms in three sequential phases have been identified as ULBs prepare for sustainable provision of water and sanitation in the cities and towns of Maharashtra. It is the first statewide program for sustainable water and sanitation in India.
Phase I focuses on water audit, energy audit and provision for operation and maintenance. The requirement of water audit is a major reform for the success of the program. The reduction of non-revenue water is the core part of the strategy as distribution leaks are plugged and a system for effective billing and collection with differentiated tariff is put in place. Financial protection is provided by ensuring that separate accounts are maintained for water and sanitation in ULBs.
For effective billing and collection from consumers, work begins with a house-to-house survey of consumers to gather information on water requirement and illegal connections, and provide a system for regularising connections on payment. Information collected on requirement for different consumer categories, e.g. domestic or commercial, helps in designing a differential tariff. It is used to put in place a system of computerised billing with emphasis on monitoring the collection ratios. The survey typically takes about 6 months for a city of population size of 1 million. It has the added benefit of creating awareness amongst consumers about the necessary reforms in water management and creating conditions for greater community participation.
To monitor the efficiency of supply, bulk meters are required to be installed at the outlets where treated water is released and at locations where treated water is let out into the distribution system. Maharashtra?s home-grown hydraulic modeling system plays a very important role in the water audit. District Metering Areas are created in the distribution network with connections ranging from 500 to 2,000. A bulk meter is installed at the entrance of each DMA which cuts off the area from adjoining areas? water flow and makes each DMA hydraulically isolated. Non-revenue water is defined as the difference between the measured flow through the bulk meter and the aggregation of the flow of consumer meters. The energy audit helps in optimising the electrical equipment for the lowest possible power consumption. Completion of reforms under Phase I is a precondition for getting funding from the state government for any investment in water and sanitation.
Once the building blocks are in place in Phase I, the ULBs can move to Phase II with pilot experiments for delivery of water 24×7. The Phase II reforms include benchmarks for individual metering and collection at 80% each, tariff framing, provision for sewerage and solid waste management. Phase III is the culmination of the reforms with 24×7 systems of water delivery, 100% efficiency in metering and collection, and a sewerage system which includes sewage treatment plants.
Change Management Units play a crucial role in developing the resolve of engineers, draftsmen, field operating staff such as valve operators, and meter readers to allow the new technology of GIS (creation of base maps with the existing pipe network), satellite images and hydraulic modeling to work towards water audit.
As of December 2012, 152 ULBs (including the 25 ULBs for which MJP has direct responsibility for delivery) are engaged in Phase I reforms. Of these, 11 ULBs have completed phase I and have submitted their detailed project reports for funding from the state government for 24×7 water delivery projects under Phase II. Another 100 ULBs are in an advanced stage of completing phase I reforms. In my earlier columns, I have written in detail about the achievements of Malkapur and Amravati towns under MSNA. Ambernath-Badlapur is another town with population of close to 450,000, which has achieved average water delivery of 15-20 hours in 8 out of its 34 wards, bringing its non-revenue water down to 33% from over 50%.
As many more cities and towns of Maharashtra strive towards sustainable delivery of water and sanitation under MSNA, there are many challenges along the way, not least of them the challenge of building mutual trust between the community and the ULB as the service level benchmarks are attained and consumers are willing to pay. There is also the challenge of building capacity at the ULB level for preparing individual projects as the institutional reforms take shape and technologies such as GIS and hydraulic modeling are deployed. Maharashtra has chosen the long and sustainable route to delivering water and sanitation.
The High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure and Services which I had the privilege to chair, had estimated that R800,000 crore will have to be spent on water and sanitation over a 20-year period beginning in 2012-13 to eliminate the urban infrastructure investment deficit in these sectors. At an average of R40,000 crore a year, this spending will have to come from the Government of India, the state governments, the Urban Local Bodies, and the private sector. The amounts involved for the government are not large when compared with the annual spending on petroleum subsidy/under-recovery of R160,000 crore, fertiliser subsidy of R70,000 crore, and power distribution losses of R60,000 crore. The greater challenge is to create capacity for planning, finance and management so that the money is spent within a framework of integrated planning. The period between now and 2014 should be used for building capacity to prepare an integrated system of water and sanitation in each state. The state governments will have to come up with programs such as MSNA. The Government of India will have to come up with a new JNNURM with priority for water and sanitation and emphasising reforms.
Dr Isher Judge Ahluwalia is Chairperson, ICRIER, and former Chairperson of the High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure Services, which submitted its report to MoUD in March 2011
