Published on: 18/03/2013
This remark comes from Pankaj Jain IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS), Government of India (GoI), who inaugurated the IRC-India Roundtable on "Sustainable Drinking Water Services at Scale: Everyone Forever’’.
Pankaj Jain IAS, Secretary, Government of India inaugurates the round table by lighting the lamp
The one day consultation was organised by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre in association with the Center of Excellence for Change (CEC), Chennai, and the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI), Ahmedabad. Pankaj Jain IAS inaugurated the programme in the presence of T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, IAS Joint Secretary, MDWS and Sudhir Prasad IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand.
According to Mr. Jain, around 10 states in India are currently reeling under a severe drought, which brings the critical issue of drinking water to centre stage. Source sustainability is a serious challenge for India which is heavily dependent of groundwater. About 80% of the schemes are groundwater-based where recharge of the source is not happening. As groundwater-based water service delivery is increasingly challenging, there is a shift to surface water. However, the sustainability of surface water sources is being challenged by climate variability, snow melting, insufficient flow in rivers and scanty rainfall. Water conservation, recharge and source security are critical for the Government of India to reach its ambitious target to cover 55% of households by piped water connections by 2017 and also to reach everyone by 2025.
In order to ensure sustainable service delivery, preventive maintenance is fundamental. Systems are functioning sub-optimally with cracks and leaks. Sustainability of technical solutions, institutions and environment are also essential in ensuring drinking water security.
If recharge efforts are not addressed effectively, especially in low rainfall states like Rajasthan, and if they are not supported by well-designed and enforced demand management and regulation, service delivery will be a difficult task. Contamination of water sources, both bacteriological and chemical, has emerged as a critical problem over the years. Water treatment technologies need to be sustainable and institutions nearer to the users to develop quick and sustainable solutions. Decentralisation needs to be strengthened, financial sustainability improved through better tariff administration followed by timely and effective operation and maintenance of systems. The new National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP 2010) guidelines and the Government of India XII Five Year Plan (2012-17) provide a paradigm shift in approach to the right direction.
Historically in India drinking water is subsidised. Mr. Jain suggested to introduce telescopic tariffs (increasing block tariffs) based on capacity to pay. This would not only improve financial sustainability but also effective demand management by curtailing consumption above the basic minimum. Environmental unsustainability, specifically arising from improper solid and liquid waste disposal, calls for linking sanitation into the whole delivery chain. Funds are not the real constraint; the sector has to use the available funds more effectively and sustainably.
In India, water supply coverage in rural settlements increased to 91% as a result of the cumulative sector investment of US$ 35 billion, supplemented by an annual investment of approximately US$ 4 billion (WHO/ UNICEF, 2010). But this coverage is in terms of ‘access to physical infrastructure’ and not ‘service delivery’, and therefore does not take slippage and sub-optimal performance dysfunctional schemes into account.
The round table was well represented by key sector stakeholders from the Government of India and State Governments, World Bank, UNICEF, Water and Sanitation Program – South Asia (WSP-SA), the European Union and other donors, WaterAid, Water for People, NGOs and the private sector. Joep Verhagen, Manager South Asia and Latin America Team, IRC, welcomed the participants and Mihir Bhat, AIDMI proposed a vote of thanks.
The Group: A moment of resolve to address sustainability challenge
Overall the programme was successful in generating serious discussions on issues such as global learning on sustainable service delivery from IRC’s Triple-S initiative, water security, institutional change, life-cycle costs and disaster management. It also created a productive platform to bring together key sector stakeholders to rally around and reinforce the cause of sustainable services at scale that last. Interesting work opportunities have also come up during discussions to be pursued by IRC and its partners.
Dr. V. Kurian Baby
India Country Director, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre
