11

WATER CRISIS IN MUMBAI

All of us are responsible for this crisis. All of us have a duty to

overcome it!

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“In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference”

― Rachel Carson

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Awesome Mumbai

Major contributor to State & National economy

Accounts for: 1/3rd Central Government tax revenues 10% factory employment 25% total industrial output 33% income tax collections 60% Customs Duty collections 40% foreign trade 70% of all capital transactions

People of Mumbai deserve a commensurate level of public services!

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Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane form an urban agglomeration of nearly 20 million

54% of Mumbai’s population lives in slums By 2025, Mumbai’s population is estimated to reach 26.40

million [UNESCAP, 2008] According to Chitale Committee Report, the population of

Greater Mumbai will reach 16 million by 2021! Growing congestion must be met with

improved provision of basic public services

BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR CITY PLANNERS

Awesome Mumbai

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MCGM’s Mission Statement on Water:

“To provide all users in Mumbai City with continuous, uninterrupted, reliable water treatment services to provide good quality supply of clean water in a safe, environmentally sound, and cost effective manner.”

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Water Supply Scenario

Circa 1860: 32 MLD supply from Vihar Lake in for population of only 0.7 million

Presently: 3470 MLD supply from six main water sources

Out of this, 120 MLD is supplied to Thane and nearby villages

Thus, 3350 MLD is drawn for Mumbai’s population of 14 million

Water supplied through approx. 4.5 lakh water connections

About 80% connections are metered

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Demand-Supply Gap

Total water drawn by MCGM: 3470 MLD Total water demand: 4250 MLD A demand-supply gap of 780 MLD Demand to rise to 5400 MLD in

2021 [Chitale Committee Report] If water is supplied at flat rate of 240 LPCD And if commercial and industrial consumption remain constant

Situation may worsen if projected demand increases!

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Demand-Supply Gap

But Mumbai currently has enough water! Given the current quantum of supply vis-

à-vis the total population: Normally MCGM has 271 litres

water available with 100% supply Even with the ongoing 15% cut,

MCGM has 219 litres available per person

It provides nearly an average of 191 LPCD to the entire population

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MCGM’s Commendable Water Supply Achievements

Sources situated over 120 kms away, going further away

Transmission along the primary network is lauded as world-class

Filtration plants at Bhandup Complex and Panjrapur operating at world-class standards

World-class standards in initial water quality

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Yet…Problems have piled up! High level of water wastage,

contamination, and encroachment Old pipeline network in the city Water pipes run parallel and close to the

sewers Lack of credible knowledge as no proper

network map is available Replacement and repairs to the 4000-km-

long pipeline network difficult Issues of rehabilitation and resettlement of

encroached settlements

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Sad tale of leaks and losses

About 50% of domestic meters and 20% of commercial meters damaged or malfunctioning

High water loss (20% around 700 MLD) due to: Leaks and bursts Inaccurate detection Time wasting procedural obstacles for fixing them

MCGM had a fully functional leak detection cell.

The cell is now limping – nearly defunct – for shortage of experienced staff.

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Slow on metering and mapping

Few flow meters at all ward boundaries Some flow meters not installed or

calibrated properly Lack of a GIS-based network interlinked

with SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition)

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Who Cares! Why bother!

General disregard for water

Increasing water wastage and consumption: Western flush systems and jet showers

in all new residential developments Joint families giving way to nuclear

families Increasing FSI, sky-high buildings

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Mumbai’s daily water loss is more than Pune’s total water daily supply of 650 MLD!

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Water Unaccounted & Unbilled

Total absence of consumption mapping No precise idea of the actual % of

unaccounted for water (UFW), or non-revenue water (NRW)

Only what can be measured can be managed – and improved!

Officially accepted figure of UFW of

20% may be inaccurate

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Whither leadership?

HE Department has a staff strength of around 8000 employees

Only a small fraction are experienced engineers

Near to zero retention of good talent No fresh recruitment since more than 10 years 7 different Chief Hydraulic Engineers in

last 4 years! Bereft of ownership, leadership and

sustained accountability, giving rise to a ‘work as usual’ attitude

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Warped Water Pricing MCGM water is so cheap that most don’t care for it!

Rs. 12 for a bottle of Bisleri of 1 ltr .035 paise for 1 ltr of MCGM water

MCGM-MJP comparison of water charges for 1,000 ltrs (1 kilolitre):

Consumer type MCGM MJPResidential customers Rs. 3.50 Rs. 10.50

Slum dwellers (MCGM) / Rural areas (MJP)

Rs. 2.25 Rs. 5.25

Hospitals, maternity homes (MCGM), Schools, Govt. & semi-Govt. offices, hospitals and charitable trusts (MJP)

Rs. 10.50 Rs. 19.65

Commercial establishments and BEST Rs. 18.00Bulk consumers e.g. Five Star Hotels, Railways, BARC, RWITC

Rs. 38.00

Special customers: Ordnance factories at Ozar & Ambazari, & Tarapur plant

Rs. 18.70

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DOMESTIC CONSUMERS IN MAHARASHTRA PAY MORE THAN THREE TIMES THE TARIFF CHARGED BY MCGM TO MUMBAI’S CITIZENS!

EVEN THE RURAL FOLK PAY MORE THAN MUMBAIKARS!

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MCGM Water Tariff

MCGM incurs Rs. 7.81 per kilolitre as water production cost

Rs. 1.95 goes towards employee salaries Rs. 1.55 for utility services Rs. 1.10 in depreciation & asset replacement Rs. 0.30 in repairs & maintenance Rs. 0.50 as interest & equity payments Rs. 0.60 for administrative expenditure Rs. 0.60 for payment to Government &

private parties Rs. 0.60 for R&D Rs. 0.11 is set as contingency amount

• [MCGM, 2008]

2020

“Water must have a price. Anything that is for free won’t be used prudently.”

- Ajit Biswas, world renowned authority on water management and head of the Third World Centre for Water Management, Mexico City

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Money’s definitely not the problem!

MCGM has an annual budget of nearly Rs. 20,000 Crore

2008-09 ‘G’ Budget for Water & Sewerage Department with surplus of Rs. 1000 Crore

Annual revenue through water and sewerage charges and taxes: Rs. 2440 Crore

Annual expenditure of Rs. 1462 Crore 31 different funds for ‘Asset Upgrade’ The water department is one of the most

profit-making arms of the MCGM

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Poor pay more than rich!

The present water supply system falls short on:

Quantity• Intermittent water supply at inconvenient hours• People do not get water when they want it

Equity• Short supply• Low pressure• Many slum and LIG pockets perennially face water

scarcity and get irregular water supply• CRUEL IRONY: Many slumdwellers, depending

on tanker water, end up paying more for water than the rich!

Quality• Risk of contamination due to ageing pipes• Closeness to the sewers• Health risks

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In Search of Solutions

MCGM has already initiated steps to improve the water supply system by strengthening its

Supply side management Demand side management

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Immediate Steps

Ongoing water supply cut of 15% To be renewed only after 2010 monsoon About 550 MLD saved

Consideration of zone-wise 100% water cut once-a-week

No new connection to high-rise buildings Rainwater harvesting made compulsory Directives to malls, multiplexes and

other commercial establishments 30% water cut for commercial customers Penalizing water wastage

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Supply-side Management

Source augmentation Middle Vaitarna project will bring 455 MLD

additional water in 2011-2012 Gargai and Pinjal projects expected to bring

around 1300 MLD water by 2021 – still at feasibility study stage

However, these measures require massive investment

What will happen to all this additional water if the system is not made ‘water tight’?

And importantly, what happens between now and 2012, forget 2021?

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Delay in water audit

Minimizing Unaccounted for Water (UfW) Comprehensive water audit needed to find out

all the reasons of UfW Re-look at the distribution system and

rehabilitate and replace the pipes wherever necessary and curb leakage and pilferage

• Water audit being talked about for more than a decade. Yet, no action. Why?

• Work on rehabilitating pipes already undertaken, 300 kms of pipelines already completed!

• Total expenditure Rs. 200 crore

• But surprisingly, UFW is still 20%!?!

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Target Efficiency

Reduction of operations costs Rationalization of materials costs Rationalization of energy utilization for

treatment and pumping through a comprehensive energy audit

•Energy audit still being talked about, without any action

Introduction of efficient systems to bring about systemic reforms is long overdue.

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Augmenting Infrastructure

Replacing of Tansa water main from Gundavli (90 kms from Mumbai towards Nashik) to Tansa

Replacing of Tansa and Vaitarna water mains between Gundavli and Bhandup filtration complex running 17-km-long

Tunnels: Veravali to Adarsh Nagar, Yari Road – 6.1 km Malabar Hill to Cross Maidan – 3.6 km Maroshi to Ruparel College – 7.95 km

• JNNURM Funds

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Measuring Demand Accurately

Universal metering Contract worth Rs. 620.76 Crore awarded to

a JV of Unity Infraprojects and Alexia Utility Management

Installation of AMR meters at all MCGM connections

Maintenance for five years Telescopic rates:

Water consumers charged according to the quantity of water consumed

The idea is to ensure judicious use of water

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The problem is clearly not about water scarcity

It’s certainly not about money Even solutions are known.

Isn’t the problem really about mismanagement?

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Policy Constraints

Irrational policy Law bars MCGM from providing water to

residents of slums which have come up after the 1995 SRA cutoff date

MCGM cannot put any departmental infrastructure in these slums•This has obviously not prevented

slum proliferation•Increased corruption, growing clout

of the tanker mafia and more water theft

•Water theft leads to more wastage and leakage

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Policy Constraints

No cadre of specialist water engineers Staff can’t be incentivized or rewarded

for good performance No control over the budget:

Staff lack equipment, safety gear, transport, radio communications etc., a given in all world class city utilities

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Lack of Empowerment

No clear set of service targets for the entire department

Staff do not have all the management authority needed for their work

Caps on sanctioning expenditure: Municipal Commissioner: Rs. 10 lakh Chief Hydraulic Engineer: Rs. 10,000 Assistant Engineer (Ward): Rs. 250

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Water Supply Trapped in Red-Tape

Almost all decisions referred to Standing Committee Approval and procurement delays lead

dragging of even immediate repairs and rehab work

IF OFFICERS ARE NOT SUITABLY EMPOWERED, HOW CAN WE EXPECT THEM TO DELIVER RESULTS?

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Policy Constraints

This has resulted in:

Councillors are frustrated

with Administration

Helpless Citizens are frustrated with both Administration

and Councillors

Administration is frustrated asit can’t do itsjob properly

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Any solutions?

It’s not rocket science

Administrative efficiency backed by strong political will coupled with citizen’s involvement and support to sustainable reforms can bring about all the desired results!

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SAVE WATER TO SAVE MUMBAI!

Rainwater harvesting and recycling waste water for all bulk users

Made mandatory by MCGM, but must be backed by strict and supervised implementation and periodic checks

Mass education campaigns To encourage behavioural change Sensitize and incentivize water conservation Active participation of politicians, residential

groups, schools, industry bodies, industrial estates, hotel & restaurant associations, hospitals, railways and institutions like the TIFR, TISS and BARC

Strict penalties for water theft Penalizing water wastage

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Thank You