Generative AI is experimental. Learn more
Listen
According to a February 2024 article in Mid-day, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) of Mumbai is neglecting water projects and has a 13-year plan to double water supply that remains a mirage.
In February 2023, the BMC's water stock was 54%, and in 2022, it was 57%. As of February 2024, the BMC is planning to cut water supply by the end of February, with water levels dropping below 50%.
Other related resources include:
- Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Water Works4.0(4)Government officeBhandup WestGovernment office that has an average rating of 4.0 based on 4 reviews. Located at 5W2P+88G, Jangal Mangal Rd, Bhandup West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400078. Open 24 hours.
BMC Water Department - A-Ward1.0(4)Water treatment plantBorabazar Precinct, Ballard Estate, FortA government office and water treatment plant
BMC Water Supply1.9(7)Corporate officeSion Koliwada, Antop HillCorporate office that has an average rating of 1.9 based on 7 reviews. Located at 9, Shaikh Mistry Rd, Sion Koliwada, Antop Hill, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400037. Open 24 hours.
What is the water policy in Mumbai?
What is the demand of water in Mumbai?
How can we solve the water crisis in Mumbai?
Search Results
Featured snippet from the web
The BMC has not proposed any allocation of funds for the project in budget estimates for 2024-25. The civic body proposed Rs 350 crore for a desalination plant at Manori with the capacity to increase daily supply by 200 million litres of water by 2028 if all things fall in place.3 days ago
Mid-day
https://www.mid-day.com › Mumbai
Mumbai stares at crisis as BMC neglects water projects
Feedback
Pipe Dream. #Mumbai stares at Water crisis as #BMC neglects water projects. BMC's 13-year plan to double water supply remains a mirage.
6 days ago — The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is reportedly planning water cuts in Mumbai by February end, with water stock dipping to 49.37 per ...
Mumbai stares at crisis as BMC neglects water projects
Updated on: 17 February,2024 07:03 AM IST | Mumbai
Prajakta Kasale | prajakta.kasale@mid-day.com
The civic body’s 13-year plan to double water supply remains a mirage
Water levels dropped below 50 per cent, increasing likelihood of water cuts. Representation Pic
Listen to this article
04:03
- BMC has been focused on awarding tenders for road concreting, neglecting water stock
- No water projects are anticipated to be completed in the next four years
- BMC has sought permission from the state government to utilise reserve stock
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been primarily focused on awarding tenders for road concreting, neglecting the crucial task of increasing the city`s water stock. With water levels dropping below 50 per cent, and the likelihood of impending water cuts, no water projects are anticipated to be completed in the next four years.
Despite the water stock decreasing to 48 per cent, the BMC has sought permission from the state government to utilise reserve stock from Bhatsa and Upper Vaitarna, similar to the previous year. The hydraulic department has proposed a 10 per cent water cut to mitigate potential crises if the monsoon faces delays. Despite recurring water cuts and shortages, the BMC remains indifferent to expediting long-planned water stock projects.
Need for more water sources
The last reservoir, the Middle Vaitarna Dam, was built and commissioned in March 2014. Work on the dam began in October 2008. Though the BMC has been working on the Gargai Dam, nothing much happened on that front. The project needs environmental clearance from the central Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. But before that, the proposal has to get a nod from the state forest department for which a report has to be sent from the Thane forest.
“We sent all the relevant details, made a presentation, and arranged a joint visit to the actual site. It has been months, but nothing happened yet. It is an important project for the city but we cannot do it unless and until permission is granted,” said a senior official from the BMC.
The BMC has not proposed any allocation of funds for the project in budget estimates for 2024-25. The civic body proposed Rs 350 crore for a desalination plant at Manori with the capacity to increase daily supply by 200 million litres of water by 2028 if all things fall in place. However, the corporation extended the deadline for tender submission for its ambitious desalination project.
Another official of the BMC said, "The civic body issued a tender notice on December 4 with a deadline for submitting tenders was January 4, 2024, but it was extended by three weeks to January 29. It was extended a second time to February 17 at the request of a few prospective bidders." Mumbai, being the financial capital of the country, had an advantage over other cities with its strong network of water supply. The city also had a plan in 2011 to double its water supply capacity by 2041 by constructing at least three dams- Gargai, Damanganga, and Pinjal.
But after 13 years, not a single project has been started by the government. Meanwhile, the water supply demand increased from 3,800 million water per day to 4,500 million water per day. With environmental issues, the city corporation pushed environment-friendly solutions like the desalination plant at Manori or the sewage water treatment plants, but even they are still on paper.
What was the plan?
Projected 2041 population: 17.24 million, a 40 per cent increase from 2011, leading to a water demand of 5940 MLD. To address the shortfall, BMC planned the Gargai Dam (440 MLD), Pinjal Dam (865 MLD), and Damanganga-Pinjal River link (1586 MLD) by 2040, boosting water storage by 2891 MLD. Due to environmental concerns in the Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary, BMC prioritised desalination over the Gargai dam, leaving Damanganga and Pinjal projects untouched.
48%
Current volume of water in reservoirs
Water Resources Management in Mumbai: The Need for Reforms in Institutions and Governance
- February 2005
- Conference: Fourth IWMI - Tata Annual Partners' Meet
- At: Institute of Rural Management, Anand
Authors:
Abstract and Figures
Mumbai is the largest metropolis in India. Its requirements of water resources have been well thought of and planned, and the urban water supply systems have been well designed to meet with the incremental demands of an increasing population. However, such wisdom of the past has now come under question due to a rapid rise of water demand on one hand and an inadequate response of supply on the other. Although, there is no overall deficit like situation in Mumbai, there is a clear lack of proper management of water resources, particularly in the areas of demand management and improvement in service delivery. This paper attempts to provide a quantitative and analytical overview of water resources status in Mumbai and then outlines the need for reforms on several fronts, particularly in water institutions and governance, while elaborating some of them. It is hoped that the institutions and agencies that are responsible for water resource management will embark on such reform agenda and provide improved service delivery as well as manage demand through a choice of policy instruments and institutional changes.
Figures - uploaded by Ramakrishna Nallathiga
Author content
Content may be subject to copyright.
Discover the world's research
- 25+ million members
- 160+ million publication pages
- 2.3+ billion citations
Content uploaded by Ramakrishna Nallathiga
Author content
Content may be subject to copyright.
W
ater Resources Management in Mumbai: The Need
for Reforms in Institutions and Governance
Ramakrishna Nallathiga
Programme Manager
Bombay First
(Bombay City Policy Research Foundation)
Fourth Floor
,
Y. B. Chavan Centre
Nariman Point
Mumbai
4
00 021 INDIA
e-
mail: ramanallathiga@yahoo.co.uk
February 2005
This paper was presented in the
Fourth
IWMI
-
Tata
Annual
Partners Meet on
India s Water Economy: Bracing up for a Turbulent Future held at the Institute
of Rural Management, Anand on February 24-
26
, 2005. The Annual Partners
Meet is a part of the Water Policy Research Programme undertaken jointly by
the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo and Sir Ratan
Tata Trust, Mumbai. This paper is a modified version of the paper presented in
the international workshop on Water Resource Management: Governance,
Institutions and Policies held at Loskop Dam, South Africa on October 8-
11,
2004. The author acknowledges his sincere thanks to the participants of the
workshop
for the useful comments and the insights from other experiences.
The opinions expressed in this paper are those that of the author but not
necessarily those of the organization he represents.
1
Executive Summary
Introduction
Water resources are increasingly becoming scarcer across the world, particularly with
respect to catering to the human activities. This scarcity calls for an efficient utilization
of water at all levels in order to meet with the sustainable development goals of human
society. One of the means of achieving this consumptive efficiency is to promote
water as an economic commodity with a bundle of goods and services attached with it.
This requires making water a priced commodity and ensuring that the services relating
to its provision, monitoring and cost recovery are in place. This is the case in urban
areas. Large cities, in particular, need to embark on such measures to meet with ever
increasing demand in addition to the traditional method of supply expansion. Mumbai
is one of the large metropolis of India whose population has been burgeoning and
water demand has been rising. This paper is a summary of the study of water
resource status in Mumbai and it outlines the need for reforms in urban water resource
management in line with the efficiency goals. The general emphasis is made here on
quantity aspects, but the quality aspects are also linked with quantity.
Purpose/Objectives
The study was undertaken with an intention of
(i)
understanding the current system of water resource management in
Mumbai, in terms of water supply vis
-à-
vis demand, water tariffs and water
institutions;
(ii)
analyzing the adequacies/inadequacies in the current water management
scenario and the shortcomings in the current approach toward it;
(iii)
overviewing and reviewing the pl
ans and provisions made towards water
management in Mumbai;
(iv)
identifying the areas wherein reforms in water management can be
undertaken and provide an argument in support of them;
(v)
informing the decision and policy makers about the need to make shift in
th
e current approach and the options available.
Approach
The study approach used a combination of research methods in order to meet with the
objectives. Secondary data from sources was collected for gaining an understanding
of the current state of water resource. The plans and provisions for its were then
reviewed in order to understand the approach laid down in them. Literature on certain
key aspects of water supply system and its management as well as case studies
elsewhere helped us to set the background or context at the same time. The lacunae
in current water supply system were better understood through stakeholder meetings
with the service provider as well as the general public. Finally, the reform agenda was
drawn based on the situation analysis of water resource and an operational framework
for its implementation was also prepared.
2
Key findings
Water resource requirements of Mumbai city were well planned with the systems
created long time ago in order to meet with future needs; yet, the situation is fragile
and it might become grave if the expansion projects do not take off. Although there
was no overall deficit like situation of water in Mumbai at present, there is a clear lack
of proper management of water, particularly in the areas of demand management and
service maintenance. The emphasis made by the MCGM earlier on supply expansion
will not be sustainable when the population is growing and it calls for demand
management measures. These can be brought
-
in through water management reforms
in its institutions and governance, which will make water an economic good and, thus,
encourages water conservation efforts at consumption end on one hand and provides
incentives to the service provider for providing better service (at a marginal price) on
the other. The institutional reforms suggested include: unbundling of service delivery
and policy & regulation functions of water supply, corporatising the water supply
function, outsourcing of non-core services, creation of new institutions and their
in
tegration into the overall sector. The governance reforms that are required for some
process changes in service delivery include budgeting reforms, accounting reforms,
tariff structure reforms and service and staffing reforms.
Conclusions
The study found that the current approach to water resource management in Mumbai
would need to shift from embracing to enhancing water supply availability for
consumption to striving for providing water efficiently, equitably and sustainably across
space, time and people. This would require undertaking reforms on several fronts,
particularly in its institutions and governance. In particular, making water as a service
commodity would both enhance its economic value and encourage its conservation.
The customer focus, professional service and consumer service orientation in water
supply function would enhance the value of goods and services and its provider.
3
Water Resources Management in Mumbai: The Need for
Reforms in Institutions and Governance
Ramakrishna Nallathiga
ABSTRACT
Mumbai is the largest metropolis in India. Its requirements of water
resources have been well thought of and planned, and the urban water supply
systems have been well designed to meet with the incremental demands of an
increasing population.
However, such wisdom of the past has now come under
question due to a rapid rise of water demand on one hand and an inadequate
response of supply on the other. Although, there is no overall deficit like
situation in Mumbai, there is a clear lack of proper management of water
resources, particularly in the areas of demand management and improvement
in service delivery. This paper attempts to provide a quantitative and analytical
overview of water resources status in Mumbai and then outlines the need for
re
forms on several fronts, particularly in water institutions and governance,
while elaborating some of them. It is hoped that the institutions and agencies
that are responsible for water resource management will embark on such
reform agenda and provide improved service delivery as well as manage
demand through a choice of policy instruments and institutional changes.
Key words: water resources, urban water supply system, water governance
and policy, and institutional reforms
INTRODUCTION
Water resources are increasingly becoming scarcer across the world,
particularly with respect to catering to the human activities. Large cities, in
particular, are becoming the areas of increasing water demand for domestic
consumption and competing with the other uses of
the fresh water. Quite often,
the reservoirs and other storage structures that have been formed primarily to
meet with other major uses like irrigation, are increasingly giving away water to
such urban water requirements. Whereas this scarcity calls for an efficient
utilization of water at all levels in order to meet with the sustainable
development goals of human society, few cities are gearing up their water
systems towards efficient water management and improved service delivery.
Mumbai city is one such city wherein appropriate water resource management
has not become a discipline of focus, largely due to popular perception of
adequate water, in spite of a rapid population growth. The city was originally
formed as a cluster of seven islands, about four centuries ago, and primarily
inhabitated by local fishermen. The natural sea harbour and the concentration
of entrepreneural and human skills here made it to emerge as a trade and
commerce capital of the country (Dwivedi, S. and Mehrotra, R., 1995). In the
colonial rule, this role was strengthened through the creation of an island city,
4
primarily through large land reclamation, and by laying down large support
infrastructure, including the water supply. It began to grow continuously
thereafter, and emerged as the peninsular city by joining with mainland India.
Today, Mumbai city, within the jurisdiction of the Muncipal Corporation of
Greater Mumbai (MCGM), admeasures to 432 sq km (MCGM 2003a), and the
Mumbai Metropolitan Area (MMA), which comprises sixteen small and medium
municipal corporations (including Mumbai
city), is spread over
4,500 sq km.
Accompanied by this shift in city growth, the nature and availability of water
resource has been changing; from the initial dependence on wells and tanks
wi
thin the city, alternative water resources such as the impoundments created
elsewhere on the mainland that were 100 km away from the city were explored.
Bringing down water to the city by gravity from these impoundments using
water pipeline system was a right option, because of the well-existent gradient;
it also became a necessity due to increasing demands from the rising
population. Today, with a population of 12 million, Mumbai stands out as one
of the largest cities in the world, and its water supply system, which is also
unique and complex, stands out as the eighth largest in the world (Anon 2002).
However, like several cities, Mumbai has traditionally focused on the
development of water resources in the upper hydraulic area i.e., Bombay
Hydraulic Area (BHA), and their conveyance to the city as the water resource
management strategy, which was working well, given the large amount of
rainfall that it received. This was tested in the year 2002 when Mumbai,
alongwith several other parts of the country, experienced a major slide in
rainfall due to the delayed onset of monsoon. The impact of bad monsoon on
the overall water availability became a matter of concern, as water levels in the
reservoirs went down; this came up to the discussion in media, particularly the
lack of water supply to several parts of the city (Nallathiga and Sabale 2002).
Yet, fluctuating water levels in the reservoirs was a matter of attention of media
rather than taking a holistic view of systemic inadequacies resulting in water
supply failure. This essentially made imperative for us to perform an evaluation
of Mumbai s water resources, and suggest alternate course of action to the
policy-makers and decision-makers concerned with the city s water resources
management. While carrying out this exercise, we also made an attempt to
understand the recommendations of one such study of a committee, which was
formed to plan and review the water supply system in Mumbai. This paper
emerged from that study, preliminary findings of which were presented in an
article prepared by Nallathiga and Sabale (2002) as well as presented in a
seminar (Nallathiga 2002), which proved to be helpful in obtaining some useful
feedback for improving it. Moreover, the study report prepared by the FAO
(1995) was also a valuable reference document. This paper evaluates the
status of water resources in Mumbai first, then highlights important issues
concerning with their management, and it finally suggests the urban water
sector reforms in water resources manageme
nt institutions and governance.
METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH
5
The study makes an evaluation of the state of water resources, as a first step,
by reviewing current as well as future state of water resources i.e., analyzing
water supply vis-à-vis its demand, which provides a quantitative overview, and
then analyses existing water management institutions. The inadequacies in
current approach towards water management are discussed subsequently,
particularly with reference to the experiences of other cities. Finally, based on
this and with reference to relevant literature, the paper argues the need for
reforms in the institutions and governance of urban water supply in Mumbai.
The study approach used a combination of research methods in order to meet
with the objectives. Secondary data from sources was collected for gaining an
understanding of the current state of water resource. The plans and provisions
were then reviewed in order to understand the approach laid down in them.
Literature on certain key aspects of water supply system and its management
as well as case studies elsewhere helped us to set the background or context
at the same time. The lacunae in current water supply system were better
understood through stakeholder meetings with the service provider as well as
the general public. Finally, the reform agenda was drawn based on the
situation analysis of water resource and an operational framework for its
implementation was also prepared.
WATER RESOURCES STATUS IN MUMBAI
WATER SUPPLY
Mumbai city primarily draws water from the nearby reservoir impoundments
created in the catchments to the north of its location. The total water resources
available for utilization in the BHA have been estimated as 7,869 million cubic
metres (hereafter termed as MCM)/year at 95% dependability and 10,439
MCM/year at 75% dependability respectively (MCGM 1994). However, only a
fraction of it becomes available due to the limited potential for tapping through
natural and artificial reservoirs, which is reflected in the limited number of
reservoirs in the BHA. The water harnessed so far amounts to 2,969
MCM/year. With an additional amount of 292 MCM/year that has been planned
to be utilized, the sum total of water harnessed goes up to 3,261 MCM/year
(
ibid
). The source
-
wi
se water supply is shown in table 1
Table 1: Source
-
wise water supply in Mumbai
Catchment Area/ Lake
Daily water supply (MLD)
Vaitarana Catchment Area
Modak Sagar
Upper Vaitarana
1,160
Tansa
455
Bhatsa Catchment Area
1,450
Other Catchment Areas
6
Vihar
110
Tulsi
18
Total
3,193
Source:
MCGM (2002)
The above water harnessed is brought down to the city to the leveling
reservoirs through a conveyance pipeline and distributed through a network of
major and minor pipelines that run across the city. The Municipal Corporation
of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has an installed capacity of water supply of 3,193
million Litres per day (hereafter termed as MLD) from these reservoirs. Of this,
100 MLD is delivered to the Thane Municipal Corporation, leaving a balance of
3,093 MLD for Mumbai. The actual water drawn from the respective sources
i.e., lakes and reservoirs, is indicated in table 2.
Table 2: Source
-
wise yield of water for Mumbai
Year of operation
Source
Yield (MLD)
Distance fr
om city (km)
1860
Vihar
70
20
1872
Tulsi
18
30
1892
-
1945
Tansa
410
110
1954
Vaitarana
490
130
1972
Upper
Vaitarana
560
180
1980
Bhatsa
I
455
130
1989
Bhatsa
II
455
130
1998
Bhatsa III
455
130
Total
2913
Source:
MCGM (2003a)
The water quality is currently monitored by the MCGM only at the sources.
This is done in order to ensure that the water being supplied meets with the
potable drinking water standards of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board
(MPCB), which is the regulatory authority of water quality. The water quality at
the receiving end is monitored by the ward offices of the MCGM; it is
periodically reported in terms of proportion of the samples with contamination
(MCGM 2003a). The current water quality at source is shown in table
3.
Table 3: Water quality status at sources in Mumbai
Water Source
Parameter
Unit of
Measurement
Tulsi Lake
Vihar Lake
Panjrapur Lake
Turbidity
NTU
2.7
-
20.0
6.3
-
12.0
1.9
-
>1000
pH
Mg/L
7.1
-
8.6
7.7
-
8.8
6.5
-
7.7
7
Alkalinity
Mg/L
38
-
50
45
-
56
20
-
77
Chlo
rides
Mg/L
13
-
16
13
-
15
7-
14
Total
Hardness
Mg/L
44
-
60
56
-
62
26
-
82
Total
Coliform
MPN/100 ml
0-
275
80
-
900
220
-
1600
E-
Coli
MPN/100 ml
0-
140
9-
140
49
-
170
Source:
MCGM (2003a)
WATER DEMAND
Water demand in Mumbai primarily comes from domestic and industrial uses.
Although industrial use accounts for good amount of water, its growth has been
slow due to the fact that most of the water intensive heavy manufacturing
industries have moved outside the city paving way for the low water consuming
light manufacturing and service industries. However, the population of Mumbai
city has been growing continuously and its water demands are on continuous
rise, although the growth rate has gone down slightly in the recent past. The
total population and its decadal growth
details are given in the table 4.
Table 4: Population and its growth in Mumbai (1901
-
2001)
Year
Population
(in million)
Percentage
Growth
1901
0.93
-
1911
1.15
23.7
1921
1.38
20.0
1931
1.40
11.5
1941
1.80
28.6
1951
2.99
66.1
1961
4.15
38.8
1971
5.97
43.8
1981
8.22
38.0
1991
9.92
21.1
2001
11.91
20.1
Source:
MCGM (2003a)
Water for domestic use accounts for the largest share of water supply to the
city. In 1991, for example, domestic use accounted for 3093 MLD of the total
3,930 MLD by all major uses. As the population of Mumbai has been growing
8
steadily and rapidly, the demand for water has also been increasing. In its
report, the Water Resources Expert Committee (1994) (or, MCGM, 1994) had
projected the population for the years 2001, 2011 and 2021 respectively for
assessing the demand of water. These estimates appear to be far more
realistic, when the population projection for year 2001 was very close to the
actual of the census survey. The gross water demand estimates made by the
exper
t committee are indicated in table 5. Here, leakages are targeted to be
reduced from 20% in 2001 to 16% in 2011 and 12% in 2021.
Table 5: Water demand projections for Mumbai
Description
2001
2011
2021
Domestic Use
2,841
3,310
3,747
Non
-
domestic Use
700
700
700
Sub
-
total
3,541
4,010
4,447
Other uses (@2%)
71
80
89
En
-route supply
90
90
90
Leakages
740
669
555
Losses through
plants
178
194
207
Total
4,620
5,043
5,388
Source:
MCGM (1994)
FUTURE REQUIREMENTS
To meet with the future water requirements of the city, the MCGM has
apparently made provisions through planned water projects. These projects
involve construction of water intake structures at rivers and natural lakes, and
impoundment of reservoirs in the upstream catchment areas of the BHA. The
details of these projects are provided in table 6. While Bhatsa project is yet to
be completed, the work of Middle Vaitarana has not commenced for the want of
environmental clearance, as it involves loss of forest cover due to reservoir
impoundment.
Table 6: Water resource projects for meeting demands in future
Project
Capacity
(in MLD)
Expected year of
completion
Bhatsa
IIIA
355
2003
Middle Vaitarana
455
2011
Kalu
590
2025
Gargai
455
2017
9
Shai
1,067
2030
Pinjai
865
2025
Total
3,454
Source:
MCGM (1994)
WATER INSTITUTIONS
The main institution responsible for the overall management of water is the
Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) within the jurisdiction of
Mumbai. The MCGM acts as a water resource developer and supplier, an
owner of distribution network and water works, a service provider and an
agency for fixing tariffs and collecting water charges. The City and Industrial
Development Corporation (CIDCO) assumes somewhat similar function in Navi
Mumbai, a satellite township of Mumbai. In other areas within the Mumbai
Metropolitan Region, water supply is primarily undertaken by the corresponding
municipality, which either purchase water from MCGM (which is very minimum)
or use ground water. The water procurement is facilitated by the Maharashtra
Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP), which acts as a state water agency. The Mumbai
Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) prepares regional level
strategic plans for ensuring adequate water supply during the plan time
horizon. Water quality monitoring is carried by the MCGM through its ward
offices and the MPCB is responsible for setting standards and ensuring
compliance in terms of meeting with the water quality norms.
The MCGM has a separate water supply division, which takes care of wide
range of its operations
service delivery, maintenance, water works, meter
reading, billing and procuring municipal appurtenances. Its Hydraulic
Engineering Division is responsible for the construction, operation and
maintenance of reservoirs, intake structures, treatment plant as well as all
hydraulic instruments, including large pipelines. It also lays down regulations
on the use of material for water storage and distribution systems to water
supply to the meters that can be used for water consumption measurement
(MCGM 1976). Yet, water supply is not regular but intermittent with an average
supply for two hours a day in the city and three and a half hours in the suburbs.
In order to meet with this, households of the flats (or, apartments) or houses
form co-operative societies, which, in turn, become responsible for water
supply to individual housing units/flats. These societies construct underground
storage structures for drawing water from municipal water pipelines, and the
stored water is then pumped to overhead tanks, wherefrom water supply is
made to individual housing units/flats through building pipelines. By this way,
most of the housing societies ensure that the water supply would be available
duri
ng most part of the day. However, most of the population (almost 50 per
cent) which habitates in slums and squatter settlements resorts to collecting
water from the public taps (or, community stand posts) during these limited
10
hours of water supply. They receive highly inadequate levels of water supply
when compared to the apartment dwellers, but pay different from them.
WATER PRICING
Water pricing is an important component of urban water supply; particularly, in
relation to its costs and objectives. Whereas the cost of water supply provision
(of old assets and conveyance) is roughly around Rs 4 per thousand litres, the
price charged for water supply ranges from Rs 2.25 per thousand litres in
residential slums (or, chawls), to Rs 3.50 per thousand litres in high rise
buildings, while commercial/industrial units are charged in a range of Rs 10.50
to Rs 38 per 1000 litres, depending upon the consumption level (MCGM 2002).
The water tariff structure of metered connections in Mumbai is essentially a
uniform
rate structure that distinguishes the user by the purpose for which it is
used and, to some extent, his/her socio-economic status. The Water Tariff
structure is explained in tables 7a and 7b. It needs to be mentioned here that
there are about 246,000 metered water connections and about 75,000 un-
metered water connections in Mumbai.
Table 7a: Water tariffs for metered connections in Mumbai
Nature of Use
Tariff (Rupees
per 1000 litres)
Domestic
o Stand post connections for slums in General
Washing place
o
St
and post for slums with inside taps and structures
in Gaothan, Koliwada
o Residents of Chawls having common toilet and taps
inside room
o Residential premises/ Co-operative houses having
more than 7 floors, Bungalows, Row houses
o All other categories such as educational institutions,
Places of worship, Prisons, Public gardens
1.00
1.00
1.50
2.75
2.00
11
Commercial / Industrial
Halls, canteens, dispensaries, hospitals, coaching
classes, play grounds
Municipal and Police Swimming pools, Government
Mill Diary Sc
hemes
Industrial establishments requiring BMC licenses
under section 394, Ice factories, Photo studio,
premises vesting in and belonging to Central/State
Government
Shops, stores, shopping centres, offices, Grade I
restaurants, Premises of public sector un
dertaking
companies and statutory corporation of
State/Central Government etc.
Aerated water factories, ice cream factories, cold
storage plants, cinemas, theatres, Cement
Concrete manufacturing works, factories, mills,
industrial estates
Race course and Building appurtenances and all
Star hotels
6.00
3.50
11.0
18.0
22.0
35.0
Source:
Anon (2002)
Table 7b: Water tariffs for un
-
metered connections in Mumbai
Nature of Use
Tariff (
% of the ratable value
)
Domestic
65
Commercial / Industrial
130
S
ource:
Anon (2002)
In addition to the charges against consumption, consumers are also required to
pay a water benefit tax that has been fixed at a flat rate of 12.5 per cent of the
ratable value for residential premises, and 25 per cent for non-
residential
premises. Moreover, as 70 to 80 per cent of the water supplied exits as
sewage, and sewerage is an essential service of the municipal corporation,
sewerage charge is collected at a rate of 60 and 39 per cent of water charge in
the case of metered and non-metered connections respectively. For
commercial/ industrial units, it has been fixed at 78 per cent. The sewerage
benefit tax, akin to the water benefit tax, has been fixed at 7.5% and 15% of the
ratable value for residential and non
-
residential premis
es respectively.
We have so far taken an overview of the water sector in Mumbai both
quantitatively, in terms of the demand and supply status, as well as
qualitatively, in terms of institutions and pricing. In the following section, we
provide a critical analysis of the features of current system and evaluate its
12
performance in terms of various parameters. Subsequently, the policy reforms
towards a change in the governance and institutions of water management in
Mumbai are discussed.
SITUATION ANALYSIS
The above overview of water resources in Mumbai only provides us in the
status, but this needs to be analysed in terms of inadequacies, relative position
and the scope for reforms, which is what attempted in this section. The Expert
Committee of MCGM (or, MCGM, 1994) made a comprehensive analysis of
Mumbai s water supply system, and identified some areas in which reforms are
required; it, however, did not look into many of the aspects of water supply e.g.,
water demand management and tariffs, service delivery norms etc., and it
rather focused on supply side improvements. A summary of the findings of this
report is provided at the end of this section (Box 1).
Adequacy of water supply: The average gross per capita water supply in
Mumbai city is 260 litres per capita per day (Lpcd), and the net water
available for domestic use is about 155 Lpcd. The net available water
supply exceeds the Bureau of Indian Standards (IS) norm for planning an
urban water supply system, which has been laid down at 135 Lpcd,
ren
dering the water supply status appearing to be satisfactory on the whole.
However, the fact that there are a good number of private water suppliers
(e.g., mobile tankers) and there exists a conspicuously large market for
bottled water, the deficits in water supply are not so obvious from the
aggregates. Moreover, these aggregates should not give any complacency
to the municipal authorities. The spatial, temporal and sectoral coverage of
water supply is still missing i.e., some parts of the city do not receive water;
some of them receive it intermittently; and some sectors have more
privilege in accessing it than others. Furthermore, water supply is not quite
a reliable option to some areas that are quite off from the main trunk line of
the distribution sy
stem. Water markets are emerging in the peripheral areas
due to the unreliability of water supply, and the societies are favouring
supplementing the municipal water supply with tanker water supply, in order
to ensure that adequate water made available. At the same time, water
transfers are also taking place at an exchange price between the locations
without a municipal water connection and those locations with water
connections, primarily for drinking purpose. Moreover, bottled water supply
is very much in vogue in various parts of the city, which primarily offsets the
unreliability of municipal water supply, due to the demand for good reliable
water and willingness to pay for it. In fact, the economic importance
attached to water gets reflected in the price paid against the bottled water in
the city, which is exhorbitantly high at Rs 10 per litre. This has implications
to water tariffs, which is discussed subsequently.
Water resource development: Even though there is a good scope for the
development of water resources in Mumbai, its costs might rise sharply in
13
future. This could make it not so easy to tap the remaining water potential.
Moreover, the burgeoning of urban area in the metropolitan region may
make it difficult to obtain land in future for laying down the pipelines for
conveyance and distribution; even when acquired, the cost of laying down
pipes will increase. Also, there could be a threat to some of the existing
water sources from the expansion of the city, which has already occurred in
th
e form of extinction of Lake Powai as a water supply source. In contrast,
the demand for domestic water use has been constantly increasing over
time, and there will be more demand for water from the surrounding urban
areas as well, as other cities within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR)
have been rapidly expanding in the size of population. Evidently, water
availability is likely to assume a critical state when future demands far
exceed overall supply, even after augmenting water supply. In particula
r,
the completion of Middle Vaitarana and Bhatsa projects is considered to be
critical for enhancing water supply in near future (private communication,
Bhatia 2003). The fact that there was a delay in progressing with the
construction of Middle Vaitarana dam due to the environmental clearance,
which resulted in huge cost escalation, should act as an eye opener to
decision makers. Likewise, the linear projection of costs is likely to be
ineffective if the service levels of the MCGM were to be targeted to
improve,
or, even cope
-
up with the future demands.
Water supply distribution efficiency: Out of the gross available water
supply of 3, 193 MLD, the losses through leakages and other sources make
the net available water supply 2,320 MLD, which also includes 600 MLD
water supply for non-domestic purposes i.e., for industry and commerce.
There is a shortfall of about 900 MLD between the water supply and
demand in Mumbai. The losses arising from leakage through water supply
distribution system amount to almost 25% and above, which remain so high
in spite of the MCGM s attempts to reduce it to a level of 15%. Incidentally,
the causes of water leakage include pilferage and losses from pipelines
(which are relatively very old). Moreover, water supply is only in
termittent in
spite of adequate water being brought down to the city; in contrast, some of
the western countries cities, in spite of having a per capita water supply
less than that of Mumbai, have attained the service levels of continuous
water supply made available to their citizens. Moreover, distributional
efficiency, in terms of meeting with the service level norms, is also not met.
Whereas the municipal norms of water supply have been fixed at 45 Lpcd in
slums, 90 Lpcd in chawls and 135 Lpcd in high rise buildings, respectively,
the actual water supply widely varies between wards and within a ward e.g.,
it varies from 50 Lpcd in slums to 250 Lpcd in high rise buildings. Erratic
supply becomes an important feature of water supply system in the
summer
. All of the above illustrate the inadequate performance of service
delivery by the MCGM, which is not yet acknowledged by it.
Current practices in water management: The entire range of functions of
water supply and sewerage are concentrated in a single
entity
the MCGM,
which is responsible for a wide range of functions. This concentration of all
services in the hands of one large organization has led to inefficiency in
14
service delivery and promoted corruption at various levels. This is more so
when the operations are neither automated nor well defined; this is not the
case of professionally managed organizations. The current budgeting/fiscal
practices do not fully reflect the value of fixed assets created; they rather
provide scope for departments working without coordination. Water supply
is carried out by various departments of the MCGM - hydraulic engineering
department deals with the engineering aspects of water development and
distribution works; water bills are prepared by the bills division; me
ter
readings are recorded by another department; and, the water charges are
collected by another. The internal co-ordination is established through the
ledgers and files, rather than the systems that make use of electronic
information, databases and dispatch methods. The staffing ratio is high
against the service provided, and the duty specification has not been
achieved in order to give an easily accountable employee service. These
inefficiencies in the service levels of the BMC are coupled with the fre
quent
pressures from its employees unions for better wages. There is a general
public antipathy towards better wages for these employees, given their
organization and the services rendered are not so good. Yet, few attempts
have been made to improve the water supply service and the organization
of providing this service. The importance of data generation, storage,
processing and retrieval at various levels and its use in policy making as
well as public interface are somehow completely ignored, whereas the FAO
(1995) clearly mandates the local authorities to plan and design the
information systems for effective water resource management.
Inefficient water tariff structure: Water tariffs in Mumbai were designed to
recover the costs, and to cross-
subsidize
domestic/residential use sector.
Unfortunately, they are not yet used as a demand management tool. The
water tariffs have not been able to meet with the costs of water supply
service; so far, they have been sufficient enough to fund about 40% of
capital works as well as enough to meet with operation and maintenance
charges. Ideally, urban water tariff system should attempt to recover: (a)
costs of consumption (b) costs of access to service (network) (c) cost of
making the option available (Bagchi 2003). As the full of costs water supply
service are not recovered through current system, this bias can have a long
-
term impact on the consumption pattern and leaves the consumers with little
incentives for putting efforts towards water conservation. Moreover, t
he
environmental value of water is also not well understood due to such
consumption
-friendly tariff structure. Although water has the characteristics
of public good, which necessitate generating greater consumption benefits
of it, the necessity and luxury nature of it need to be distinguished through
water pricing. Instead of levying a flat tariff for domestic as well as other
uses, MCGM should identify the threshold point of necessity (in order to do
not burden the poor) and levy higher water tariff for greater amount of unit
water consumption. Given the fact that reasonable level of metering has
been achieved, it should make attempts to move towards introducing
marginal cost pricing of water supply for consumption in the long run. It is
reported that a good amount of meters were faulty (Padwal 2002), which is
15
a different issue that has solutions in the form of improving the existing
water metering department or inviting private parties to take care of this
function. Moreover, the domestic water tariffs
are pegged to property rental,
which not only is an inefficient method but also exposes it to the same
distortions that exist in land and housing markets. For example, the annual
ratable values in some locations are very low due to the operation of the
re
nt control act, and they are already adversely affecting the property tax
(Bombay First 2003). These distortions are difficult to correct; basing them
for laying down water tariffs will also meet with the same difficulties.
Further, whereas the domestic to non-domestic water consumption ratio is
90:10, the water revenue ratio of the same is 50:50 (MCGM 2003), which
reflects the disproportionate burden sharing by industrial sector. Also, the
increase in water charge for industrial use has been higher than that of
water tariff increase for domestic use. High water charges for industrial use
have affected industries and employment in the past. The tariff structure
needs to be restructured to target reducing consumption beyond threshold
level in domestic sector, preferably based on the Increasing Block Tariffs
(IBT), and attempts should be made to minimize the cross-subsidy to begin
with that leads to abolishing of it in long run.
THE NEED FOR REFORMS
The situation analysis clearly outlines the need for bringing about reforms in
water resources management in Mumbai (as well as other cities in the Mumbai
Metropolitan Region). In particular, they need to bring about some systemic
changes in water supply, tariffs, service and accountability. Moreover, good
urban water management is also necessary to avoid any possible conflicts
between the cities within the metropolitan region. Some of the structural
improvements to water resource management have already been highlighted in
MCGM (1994). While these changes are required from the organizational front
of MCGM, there is a need for reforms on the institutional and governance fronts
in order to attain better and responsive water resource management system.
We elucidate and discuss some of sets of the reform agen
da below.
Institutional Reforms
Good water management requires good institutions in place. In particular, as
countries (and cities) move from state of water plenty to a state of water
scarcity, water institutions, which define the rules of water developm
ent,
allocation and utilization, have to be concurrently reoriented to reflect the
realities of changing supply-demand and quantity-quality balance (Saleth and
Dinar 2004, p11). This means some transformations in the current institutions
and the creation of new institutions so that the management objectives are met
and institutional capacity is created. We highlight some such hereunder:
16
Unbundling of institutions: The unbundling of service delivery (design,
operation and maintenance of water supply system) and policy & regulation
functions of the water supply system in Mumbai shall be the first step of the
beginning of reform process. It is almost a necessary step in any urban
infrastructure reforms, which has been undertaken by several states in
India, including Maharashtra, in the case of power sector (MEDC 2002).
Cities like Banagalore, Hyderabad and Chennai have implemented it by
setting up autonomous corporations/boards for water supply and sanitation
functions and have successfully transformed the management of their water
supply systems. However, it is also important to group water supply and
sanitation functions together so that the returns from beneficial operation of
water supply can be utilized for improving sewerage system or providing
decentr
alized sanitation solutions, particularly for the poor people in slums.
Corporatising the function of water supply: The water supply unit has to
function like a professional body with a strict planning and control of its
finances and operations. It has to shift from its dependence on public
grants to undertake borrowings for financing the water development. The
borrowings can be made in the form of debt from private parties (with
transparent and market based obligations) as well as public (in the form of
bonds). This measure is expected to bring about professionalism in water
supply service delivery, as the administrators are made accountable to
fiscal discipline brought through the obligation of financial performance.
Essentially, the return on investment obligations made through debt and
bond market borrowings necessitates them to perform well in order to attain
the targets, than otherwise. This seems to be the case when complacency
prevails over service delivery, which happens in publicly administered
services, to which the MCGM is not an exception. However, this does not
mean devolution of the function to private sector; rather, in a sector like
water supply, where there exist natural monopolies in case of a public good,
public service can keep the costs low, so long that it makes attempts to
reduce costs and improve services. This essentially means public service
delivery improvement through changing orientation, which will lead to better
distribution benefits of a public good like water. An example worth mention
is the huge amount of water losses (almost one-third) through current water
supply network, which is somewhat neglected. Such losses are wastage of
money spent on tapping and bringing them down to the city, which a
professionally managed corporation should not have allowed to take place.
Outsourcing of non-essential services: The MCGM shall have to
concentrate on the delivery of core services it is supposed to deliver, rather
than involve itself in the provision of non-core services, which applies to
even the water supply function. In doing so, it could identify the areas in
which it has a strong expertise and which are strategically important. Many
of the peripheral activities (e.g., organizational services, billing and
metering) and service provision components (e.g., pipe laying, data and
information systems support) can be outsourced to private sector players
through efficient use of Management Contracts, Joint Implementation
Contracts and similar instruments. This ensures private sector participation
17
in water supply, thereby reduces the burden of monitoring and executing all
functions by the authority, on one hand, and it provides scope for system
improvements and concentration on core services, on the other. It also
lends an opportunity to these agencies to innovate incentive structures and
new practices that will lead to better service delivery. Further, private
participation can also come in the form of co-operative institutions taking
part in service management (Swaminathan 2002). French experience with
such contracts Quangos is considered to be one of the major successes
attained in water systems management. Rosenthal and Alexander (2003),
for example, list down the major types of contract arrangements available
for private se
ctor participation in water resource management.
Formation of institutions: The institutional reforms need to be
supplemented by the formation of (i) an autonomous City Water Supply
Entity (CWSE) for discharging the administrative functions, and (ii) an
au
tonomous financial entity e.g., on the lines of the Initiative Development
Fund (IDF) suggested by the GoM (2001), for taking care of the funding of
large projects and system improvements, including capacity building
exercises (This is akin to Project Development Fund mechanism suggested
by The World Bank, 1999). The main features of such autonomous CWSEs
as well as IDFs are defined, for instance, in GoM (2001) (see Box 1). In
such re-organisation, the municipal corporation shall specify the appropriate
service standards to be achieved, covering the aspects related to service
coverage, reliability, continuity and norms for redressal of consumer
grievances. Moreover, there is a need for the creation of either an
independent regional water authority, such as Mumbai Metropolitan
Regional Water Authority (MMRWA), which can perform the regional water
planning function as well as act as a co-ordinator of water distribution
between various municipalities in the region through various partnership
agreements; this can also be facilitated through restructuring of the MJP.
Water quality is currently monitored by the MCGM both at the source as
well as at the delivery end. It needs to seriously think about transferring this
function (at the delivery end) to local non-government organizations (NGOs)
and citizens groups. For this, it shall have to impart training and provide
equipment for monitoring rather than deploying staff for the same. The
MPCB has to play a major role in water quality regulation than it plays now
.
Box
1
Institutional Structure for City Water Supply Management
City Water Supply Entities (CWSE): The main features of CWSE shall include:
It shall be set up independently as a municipal enterprise/ undertaking or a
company under the Companies Act or a w
ater cooperative society under the
Co
-operative Societies Act
It may take the form of long-term concessions (25-30 years) with private
firms, selected on a competitive basis;
The ownership structure to range from fully owned by the urban local
authority, t
o joint public
-
private ownership or even fully privately owned
It will serve either one urban local body or several ULBs e.g., MCGM;
18
The CWSE has to mobilize their own investment resources from the market,
on a proposed commercial basis (through capital market, domestic financial
institutions or the proposed IDF); and,
Outsourcing of services to the restructured MJP, private sector, NGOs or
community groups, needs to be done as appropriate.
Initiative Development Fund (IDF): The setting-up of IDF is primarily for
capacity building and for the provision of facilitating finance for infrastructure
and shall have the following features:
It will provide support in the implementation of efficiency improvements
(e.g., leakage detection, energy conservation), tariff reforms, accounting
reforms, project development for private sector participation and institutional
restructuring.
It shall provide process management support as well as funding support.
The IDF should have two entities/windows, namely, Capacity Building and
for Facilitating Finance.
It should be set up as a company under Companies Act with minor stake of
Government and the major stake from infrastructure finance institutions in
order to ensure professional management and fiscal discipline.
Fundi
ng of IDF should come from state Government, Indian Financial
Institutions, multi-lateral agencies and donor agencies. Additional
resources from other programmes and market sources can also be pooled.
Source:
GoM (2001)
Integration of institutions: The integration shall have to begin with the
urban local authority i.e., MCGM and other municipalities alike, entering into
agreement with regional water agency MMRWA for assuming its stake,
avoiding conflicts and ensuring smoother transfer of water resources.
The
Regional Water Authority, in turn, has to be integrated into the current
system of state water management. Integrating the institutional reforms into
the wider framework of regional institutions, sectoral reforms of the state
government and wider capacity building programmes of the multilateral
agencies like the World Bank, Department for International Development
(DfID) and Overseas Development Coroporation (ODC) is a necessary step
at the city-region level in order to institute reforms by attracting funding for
their implementation. The reforms in institutional structure, information
flows and integration with water sector institutions and policy framework are
delineated in the Figure 1.
19
Governance Reforms
The concept of water governance has wider meanings in wider contexts, but it
broadly refers to the way water supply services are delivered i.e., whether the
efficiency and equity of distribution are ensured, whether the delivery process is
transparent, accountable, participatory and responsive, and whether the
citizens are empowered and powers are delegated to enhance their welfare
(Ballabh___). Good water governance has the prerequisites of good
institutions, good policies and good practices set in place. These need to
be
inculcated into water supply system, which can be made a beginning with some
reforms outlined hereunder. However, achieving good governance is a long-
term process, unless it is enforced through technologies and power structures.
Budgeting reforms: There is a lot of scope for improving the municipal
budgeting and accounting practices in water supply sector. Ideally, this
should start from changes in the design of the records/observations to a
shift in the nature of accounting system e.g., from cash based accounting to
fund based accounting, as it has already been done successfully in case of
Urban Local Authority
i.e., MCGM
or
Several
ULAs in the Mumbai
Metr
opolitan Region
Contract/
License/
MOU for
services
City/ Regional Water
Supply Entities (CWSE)
Customers/
Citizens
Service Provision Contracts
Consumer Councils/
Citizen Groups
Service
Delivery
Pvt. Agencies, NGOs
and Civil Society Grou
ps
Restructu
red MJP
Outsourcing
Infrastructure
Development
Fund, Capital
market and
Domestic
Financial
Institutions
Financing
Regional Water Institutions, State Level Institutions and Water Sector Framework
Integrat
ion
Figure 1: Preferred Institutional Arrangements
Water Supply & Sewerage Services
Source:
Adapted from GoM (2001)
Improved
Budgeting
Regulators
Tariff
Structure
20
Bangalore (Bombay First 2002). Such systemic changes will lead to better
control over assets and increase the accountability of employees against
the spending on the water supply operations. Ideally, this should lead to
development of a better Management Information System (MIS), which
would also help regular/ routine decision making of the operations and
systems. These changes will have to take place irrespective of whether
corporatisation takes place or not. Even though a separate budget is
prepared for water supply, its accounting methods need to be changed in
order to get a better accounting of costs and better evaluation of assets on
one hand and make the information more useful to decision making on the
other. This might also require good amount of changes in the current
practices, and training needs to be imparted to the staff after adopting the
necessary changes. Capacity building is also required at the data entry
levels of the accounts in order to avoid wrong entries and make data logs
error free, which will also help in dealing with consumer grievances.
Accounting reforms: The water resource accounting has not been well
conceived
it is only thought of in terms of water drawal and supply, and to
some extent costs of water works. The resource accounting shall comprise
physical accounts and financial accounts, both of which need to be properly
prepared to take decisions and set targets. By setting up such resource
accounting systems, information on water availability, use and wastewater
accounts as well as defensive expenditures on capital and operations can
be obtained and economic valuation from time to time can be performed,
which will aid the water resource development and management policy. It
has been argued elsewhere (Nallathiga 2001) that this would help the
agency to identify the current consumption patterns of various sectors and
their shifts on one hand, and it will aid the design of water tariffs on the
other. Such rationalization will lead to a well-informed decision making and
guides policy making in terms of allocation priorities and tariffs, which is
discussed in detail elsewhere (i.e., Nallathiga and RamBabu 2003,
Nallathiga 2005). Ideally, this will also help in attaining both economic and
environmental goals through guided strategic policy and decision making,
which has also been suggested by the United Nations (UN
-
Habitat 2002).
Tariff structure reforms: Undertaking water tariff structure reforms is an
immediate step impending for the MCGM. The current tariff structure is
insensitive to demand characteristics, and the service does not have a well-
laid priority for low
-
income groups or any target sections explicitly. The tariff
st
ructure needs to shift itself away from the uniform rate to that based on
volumetric pricing of water (or, marginal cost pricing), given a good number
of metered connections in place; but, this needs to be designed to beyond a
certain threshold consumption level in order to do not burden the low
income sections of the society. Even though uniform rate tariffs are
considered to be efficient in expanding network (Rosenthal and Alexander,
2003), they do not encourage resource conservation and are misused for
cross
-subsidising between sectors, rather than the users of different
economic groups. The advantages of marginal cost pricing, however, are
well discussed in Dinar et al (1994). Moreover, several experts (e.g.,
21
Whittington 2003) now argue that the subsidy in tariff to lower income
sections is inefficient and prone to populist policies. Hence, the subsidies
should be targetted to the provision of water supply (e.g., tap connections
and meters), and tariff structure should encourage water conservation whi
le
avoiding transfers between consumers. Based on the survey of urban water
supply system in South Asian cities, Whittington (2003) recommended a set
of tariff reforms in three different forms: (a) expanding the customer base
and making sure connections are metered so that pricing policies can be
implemented; (b) changing the way the bills are calculated for households,
industrial and commercial consumers; and (c) putting in place the policies to
protect poor households during reform process. Moreover, as
mentioned
earlier, water charges should not be pegged to property markets, which is
an inefficient method of measuring the value of the resource and its service.
Service and staffing reforms: The municipal water supply department
regards water supply as a necessary obligation and provides it with all its
technical expertise. However, it has not well thought about the levels of
service and staffing, and their capacities to deliver the service. The poor
interface with public in the case of grievance handing comes out as an
obvious reference, but the staff also lacks several professional skills and
orientation for providing such service. For example, the data collection,
logging and recording methods deployed are quite outdated and are not
easily understood or cannot be easily logged in by any third party. As a
result, information retrieval is difficult and the interface with customer is not
well maintained. An important aspect of service provision is also
streamlining the staff at various levels and broad basing the tasks to which
they can be individually assigned. This means less number of dedicated
and accountable staff for each task and more tasks. However, MCGM has
to strive to achieve it. For example, the MCGM has a very high staffing ratio
of 35 persons for 1000 water connections against that of one per 1000
connections in Singapore (ADB, 1994, cited in Padwal, 2003). An important
element of the service effectiveness is the use of information gathering and
processing techniques and the levels of automation. As mentioned earlier,
data logs from customer water meters, observations of water devices, water
supply system information are not fed to a centralized information unit;
information is at disarray and retrieval of file takes good amount of time
and
involves manual labour. The MCGM needs to think of automating several
departments, including the water supply department, dealing with data
generation, data collection, data processing and data analysis, so that the
data base is kept at a central place and is available for retrieval, queries and
search. The staff needs to be properly trained to make use of the systems
and some of them could be usefully employed in data analysis and
processing functions, rather than forever keeping in the data collection. It
will also provide scope for giving an opportunity for upward mobility of the
employees within the organization. This will certainly facilitate the service
delivery, improve customer interface, help dealing with grievances and
enhance the image of th
e corporation.
22
Decentralisation and public participation: The current approach towards
the provision of water supply is highly top-down and public participation is
virtually not present. The bureaucracies built-in through the top-
down
models and the inefficiencies are well known and were illustrated in the
discussions earlier. Although ward offices of the MCGM act as interfaces
between the corporation and the general public, they nevertheless act as
truly decentralized power-delegated centers; they act as mere paper
processing and transfer centres. Their role needs to be enhanced further,
which is not possible without delegating some of their current duties to the
third parties i.e., private agencies, non-government organizations and
citizen groups. Moreover, this will also enhance their participation in the
service delivery function. These groups, apart from the consumer councils,
can also act as decentralized monitoring agencies of water supply quantity
and quality at neighbourhood level. Empowerment of these groups and
entrusting them with some responsibilities shall perhaps lead to better
accountability and service delivery, and enhance the public participation.
CONCLUSION
The paper began with examining the status of water supply and demand vis-à-
vis availability in Mumbai. Initially, the need for demand management and
supply improvements were discussed alongwith their limitations. However,
there is an urgent need for undertaking various institutional and governance
reforms in water sector for improving resource management, which will lead to
enhanced water supply services
both in quality as well as quantity. As the
74
th
Indian constitutional amendment provided urban local bodies with more
autonomy in decision-making and encouraged becoming financially self-
sufficient, it becomes imperative that they embark on reform agenda and create
virtuous circles in water management in urban areas as reflected in Figure 2.
Customer
Satisfacti
on
Good
Services
Good
Infrast
ruct
Good
Institution
Good
Finances
Custome
r Focus
Adequate
technical/
financial
skills
Appropria
te
Governan
Appropria
te
Adequate /
Sustainabl
e
Appropriate
Systems/MI
S
UWSS
Sector
Figure 2: Creating Virtuous Circles in Water Management in Cities
Source:
Adapted from The Wo
rld Bank (1999)
23
REFERENCES
Anon (2002) Mumbai and Its Water Supply Sour
ces
, PEATA Newsletter,
Practicing Engineers Architects and Town Planners Association (India),
Mumbai.
Bagchi, S. (2003) Pricing and cost recovery of urban services: issues in the
context of decentralized urban governance in India ,
International
Journal o
f Regulation and Governance
, 3(2): 103
-
134.
Ballabh, V. (Undated) Governance Issues in Water Sector
Bombay First (2002) (Ed) Finances of the MCGM: A Framework for Its
Reforms
, Papers presented in the Seminar on Civic Finances of MCGM
held on November 26.
Bombay First (2003) (Ed) Property Taxation and Valuation: Issues and
Challenges
, Proceedings of the Seminar on Property Taxation and
Valuation: Issues and Challenges held on November 29 at Mumbai.
Dinar, A., Rosegrant, M. W. and Meinzen-Dick, R. (1997
)
Water Allocation
Mechanisms: Principles and Examples, Working Paper, The World
Bank, Washington DC.
Dwivedi, S. and Mehrotra, R (1995) Bombay: The Cities Within, India Book
House, Mumbai.
FAO (1995) Water Sector Policy Review and Strategy Formulation: A General
Framework , FAO Land and Water Bulletin 3, Report of World Bank,
UNDP and FAO, Food and Agricultural Organization of the United
Nations, Rome.
GoM (2001) Sukthankar Committee Report on Operation, Maintenance and
Management of Rural and Urban Water Supply Schemes, Water Supply
and Sanitation Department, Government of Maharashtra
MCGM (1976) Water Bye-
laws
, Hydraulic Engineering Department, Municipal
Coporation of Greater Mumbai, Mumbai
MCGM (1994) Report of the Expert Committee (Water Planning) on Bombay s
Future Water Resources and Improvement in Present Water Supply
Scheme
, December, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, Mumbai.
MCGM (2002) Water Supply Statistics, Obtained from the records of the
bureau of MCGM
MCGM (2003a) Environment Status of BrihanMumbai 2002-
03
, Municipal
Corporation of Greater Mumbai, Mumbai
24
MCGM (2003b)
Mumbai Water Supply 2003
, Presentation material prepared by
the MCGM, Personal Reference
MEDC (2002) Infrastructure in Maharashtra: New Initiatives, Proceedings of
Mahar
ashtra Infrastructure Summit 2002, Maharashtra Economic
Development Council.
Nallathiga, R. (2001) River Water Management: Policy making for public
intervention toward management of quality and quantity, Journal of
Indian Association for Environmental Ma
nagement
28(1): 6
-
12.
Nallathiga, R. and Sabale, D. (2002) Status of Water Resources in Mumbai: A
Need for Re
-appraisal! ,
The CITY
, I(3): 45
-
46.
Nallathiga, R. (2003) Mumbai s Water Resources: The need for reforms in their
management , Paper presented in the Annual Conference on
Advances
in Environmental Sciences and Engineering, held at Indian Institute of
Technology
Bombay, Mumbai on December 8
-
9.
Nallathiga, R. and Ram Babu, P. (2003) Resource Accounting for Regional
Water management: A Case Study of Yamuna River Sub-basin , Paper
presented in the Annual Convention of COSMAR held at the Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore on September 21-
23.
Nallathiga, R. (2005) Resource Accounting for Regional Water management: A
Case Study of Yamuna River Sub-basin , South Asian Journal of
Management
, 11: 93
-
110.
Padwal, R. (2003) Issues of Pricing Urban Water , Working Paper No. 13
,
Department of Economics, University of Mumbai, Mumbai.
Rosenthal, S. and Alexander, I. (2003) Private sector participation and the
poor: realizing the full potential of transactions in the water sector ,
International Journal of Regulation and Governance
, 3 (1): 33
-
58.
Saleth, R. M. and Dinar, A. (2004) Ch 1: Water challenge: an institutional
diagnosis , in The Institutional Economics of Water, Edward Elgar,
Cheltenham, UK (a co-
publication with The World Bank).
Swaminathan, M. S. (2002) Water Policy for 21
st
Century , Paper presented in
the Seminar on Water Policy for 21
st
Century held at Y. B. Chavan
Centre, Mumbai on April 26
.
The World Bank (1999):
Urban Water Supply and Sanitation, South Asian Rural
Development Series, The World Bank, Allied Publishers Ltd., New Delhi.
UN
-Habitat (2002) Integrated Water Resource Management: Backgrounder
,
United Nations
Habitat (Water & Sanitation in the World s Cities),
Nairobi. (
www.unhabitat.org/mediacentre/documents/wws1.pdf
)
Whittington, D. (2003): Municipal water pricing and tariff design: a reform
agenda for Sou
th Asia , Water Policy
5 (1): 61
-
76.
... The predominant sources of the water supply in Mumbai are from nearby reservoirs and lakes located in the north, which include Lakes Vihar, Tulsi, Vaitarna, and Bhatsa (Nallathiga et al., 2005). The majority of the water demand in Mumbai is for domestic followed by industrial purposes.
