Urban water supply sector in India: setting the reform agenda for improving service delivery

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Nallathiga, Ramakrishna

Note: [] Programme Manager (Infrastructure & Environment), Centre for Good Governance, Dr Mcr Hrd IAP Campus, Road No. 25, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad 500 033 (AP) INDIA. E-mail: ramanallathiga@yahoo.co.uk

Abstract: The reform of the urban water supply sector in India has been somewhat slow, thanks to the lack of focus on delivery systems that are under the purview of state and local governments. Urban water supply is still largely viewed as a public good provided by a local government or a parastatal agency without examining its long term sustainability. Even large metropolitan cities are yet to undertake basic reforms for improving the efficiency of water service provision and making it financially self sufficient. There has hardly been any strategic focus on ‘demand management’ and on improvement in service delivery efficiency. This paper provides an analytical overview of the water resource status in general, and that of urban water in particular, with reference to the need for reforming the sector in terms of improving service and delivery. The reform agenda set out includes the aspects of water institutions, finances, and governance. It is also argued that the financial sustainability/cost recovery and affordability/ access to the poor may be balanced, both through tariff design as well as new institutional finance models. It is hoped that the large capital investments coming through partnership funding arrangements under JNNURM should provide incentives for urban local governments (ULG) to move on a reform path, so that the assets created are well maintained and utilized beyond their design life span. This calls for building up a comprehensive management capacity in the ULGs that also meets the shifts in demand.

Keywords: water resource management, urban water supply, water governance, financial and institutional reforms

DOI: 10.3233/IJR-120099

Journal: International Journal of Regulation and Governance, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 25-52, 2011