Urban Water Systems in India: a Way Forward
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Working Paper 323 Urban Water Systems in India: A Way Forward Mihir Shah May 2016 INDIAN COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH ON INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS 1 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... i PART A: THE PROBLEM STATEMENT ........................................................................... 1 1. Point of Departure .......................................................................................................... 1 2. Deconstructing “Urban” India: Understanding the Continuum ..................................... 2 3. Groundwater: The Blind Spot in Urban Water Planning ............................................. 10 4. India’s Urban Areas in a 6x4 Matrix ........................................................................... 21 5. Demand and Supply of Water in Urban India ............................................................. 23 PART B: MOVING TOWARDS SOLUTIONS ................................................................. 24 1. Urban Groundwater Management in India: Framework for Action ............................ 24 2. Focus on Recycling and Reuse of Wastewater ............................................................ 26 3. Industrial Water ........................................................................................................... 30 4. Protect and Prioritise Local Water Bodies ................................................................... 36 5. Need to Shift Focus to Management and Distribution................................................. 37 6. Financial Implications and the need to consider Alternative Technologies ................ 38 7. Public Private Partnerships: A Review ........................................................................ 49 8. Capacity Building of ULBs ......................................................................................... 63 PART C: FOCUS ON INDORE AND NAGPUR ............................................................... 64 1. Methodological Framework for a Solution to Water Supply Problems in these Cities ...................................................................................................................................... 64 2. Synoptic Overview of Elements of a Proposed Comprehensive Action Plan for Indore and Nagpur ................................................................................................................... 71 References ............................................................................................................................... 76 List of Tables Table 1: Share of Urban Population in Cities and Towns in India, 1901-2011 .................. 3 Table 2: Population in Cities and Towns of India, 1901-2011 ........................................... 3 Table 3: Norms fixed by the CPHEEO Manual ................................................................ 23 Table 4: Sanitation Facilities in Urban India .................................................................... 27 Table 5: Waste Treatment Capacity in Indian Cities ........................................................ 28 Table 6: Potential Water Saving from Various Measures in Industry .............................. 35 Table 7: Nagpur’s Water Highway: Losing as it Travels ................................................. 37 Table 8: Estimated Investments Required during 2012 - 2031 (2009-10 Prices) ............. 39 Table 9: Cost of Water Treatment: Modern Plants in India .............................................. 40 Table 10: The Sewage Ladder -- Costs of Treatment ......................................................... 41 i Table 11: Comparison of Eco-technologies and Conventional Technologies for Sewage Treatment ............................................................................................................ 46 Table 12: Technologies available, cost, socioeconomic and maintenance and repair considerations for sewage treatment options ...................................................... 47 Table 13: Private Water Efforts in India ............................................................................. 50 Table 14: Responsibility and Risk Matrix for Delegated Management Contracts ............. 52 Table 15: Key Requirements for Success of Delegated Management Contracts ................ 53 Table 16: Karnataka’s 24x7 Achievements: What has been Done ..................................... 57 List of Figures Figure 1: The Urban Continuum: A Schema in Four Stages............................................. 5 Figure 2: Population and Annual Water Supply (in billion litres) for Pune city, 1915-1991 ............................................................................................................................ 9 Figure 3: Generalised Trends of Surface and Groundwater Use across variously sized Urban Settlements in India............................................................................... 10 Figure 4(a): Mountain aquifer systems ................................................................................ 14 Figure 4(b): Alluvial Aquifer Systems ................................................................................. 16 Figure 4(c): Basalt Aquifer .................................................................................................. 17 Figure 4(d): Crystalline aquifer systems .............................................................................. 18 Figure 4(e): Consolidated sedimentary formations.............................................................. 20 Figure 4(f): Zones of aquifer setting transition ................................................................... 21 Figure 5: Water Saving Potential in Industry .................................................................. 35 List of Boxes Box 1: Water Use Efficiency in UK Industry ................................................................. 33 Box 2: Khandwa’s PPP project....................................................................................... 55 Box 3: Chennai: Learning about working meters ........................................................... 59 Box 4: Jamshedpur: the town that counts ....................................................................... 61 ii Abstract Urban water and wastewater management are relatively under-studied subjects in India. The Indian urban space has been understood in an undifferentiated manner, which ignores the specificities deriving from the stage of urban development, the sources of water, as also the diverse nature of aquifers characterizing urban settlements. This paper provides a new presentation of the urban water problem and offers a set of solutions that are sustainable, both in ecological and financial terms, and seek to tackle the deep inequities in the urban water space in India. It highlights the significance of groundwater, the dark spot of Indian urban water planning and proposes a typology that could be used to comprehend the diversity of urban aquifer formations. The paper highlights the urban wastewater challenge and emphasises the need to work simultaneously on water and wastewater management. The paper advances a series of hypotheses, an initial analytical framework and the outlines of a way forward for urban water systems in India, which could provide a rich terrain for further research. The paper concludes with brief illustrative case-studies of two major emerging cities – Indore and Nagpur – where the new approach advocated in the paper could be fruitfully tried out. _________ Keywords: aquifers, wastewater treatment, recycling, water distribution, PPP JEL classification: Q Author’s Email: [email protected] _________ Disclaimer: Opinions and recommendations in the report are exclusively of the author(s) and not of any other individual or institution including ICRIER. This report has been prepared in good faith on the basis of information available at the date of publication. All interactions and transactions with industry sponsors and their representatives have been transparent and conducted in an open, honest and independent manner as enshrined in ICRIER Memorandum of Association. ICRIER does not accept any corporate funding that comes with a mandated research area which is not in line with ICRIER’s research agenda. The corporate funding of an ICRIER activity does not, in any way, imply ICRIER’s endorsement of the views of the sponsoring organization or its products or policies. ICRIER does not conduct research that is focused on any specific product or service provided by the corporate sponsor. i Urban Water Systems in India: A Way Forward1 Mihir Shah2 PART A: THE PROBLEM STATEMENT 1. Point of Departure The global urban population is expected to nearly double to 6.4 billion by 2050, with about 90% of the growth in low-income countries. The predicted increase in the number of urban slum dwellers is to 2 billion in the next 30 years (Global Water Partnership, 2013). In India, the number of people living in urban areas is expected to more than double and grow to around 800 million by 2050. This will pose unprecedented challenges for water management in urban India. The Indian economy and society already face daunting challenges in the water sector, as we move into the second decade of the 21st century. The demands of a rapidly industrialising economy and urbanizing society come at a time when the potential for augmenting supply is limited, water tables are falling and