The progress of the urban water supply sector has been very slow in India inspite of the policy initiatives because of the improper focus and inadequate reforms in the urban local bodies. Water supply is still largely a supply driven and public sector activity. Even large metropolitan cities are yet to undertake reforms for improving the efficiency of water service provision. There has hardly been any strategic focus on demand management and improvement in service delivery efficiency. This paper provides a quantitative and analytical overview of the status of water resources and then outlines the need for reforms in water supply and service as well as water service delivery. The reform agenda thereafter sets out reforms in water institutions, finances and governance, which are discussed in detail.
Water
is an important resource available to humans and fresh water
is even more important given its limited availability and
erratic distribution over space and time. India roughly
accounts for 4.5% of the world's fresh water resources,
while at the same time it accounts for 2.5% of the total
land mass and 16% of the total population. However, the
availability of fresh water per capita itself has come down
from about 5,177 cubic meter per head in 1951 to 1,820 cubic
meter per head in 2001 and it is expected to further go
down to 1,140 by 2050 AD (Sankarnarayan, 2005).
Fresh
water resources are increasingly becoming scarce across
the country, particularly with respect to catering to human
activities, due to several reasons: (a) the existing water
resources have already been tapped through various development
projects but have been utilized inefficiently, leaving very
little water for actual use; (b) water pollution has rendered
several of the water resources-both surface and ground water-unfit
for use by any sector; (c) the rising population and the
trends of rapid urbanization necessitate a good amount of
water devoted to human consumption, thereby not only reducing
the per capita availability but also raising competition
with other sectors. |
