India faces significant challenges with water security and sustainable drinking water services at scale. [1] Over 90% of households have access to basic drinking water infrastructure but only 60-80% receive reliable service delivery due to source unsustainability issues. [2] Investment has focused on hardware but needs to address long-term water security and source sustainability to prevent systems from failing after a few years. [3] Water resources are declining rapidly due to overuse, competing demands, and pollution, threatening drinking water services without improved governance, financing, and a focus on source sustainability.

1. India- Water Security for
Sustainable Services at Scale
Dr. V. Kurian Baby, IRC - Netherlands
Round Table 2013 Sustainable Drinking Water Services at Scale 13 March New Delhi

2. The story line
• Coverage 91% - cumulative investment of $ 35
billion, annual average $4 billion
• ‘Access to physical infrastructure’ and not ‘service
delivery’
• 30-35% schemes dysfunctional while another 30%
function sub-optimally
• A major cause of ‘slippage’ is source unsustainability
( quantity +quality)
• Investment trajectory is hardware driven –
storage, conveyance, distribution
• Need U-turn – address the time-bomb of water
security /source for sustainable services at scale

3. Most part of India
under physical
scarcity- about half
of total population in
India
Source: IWMI

4. Per capita availability is declining….
India 1951 - 5177 m3 –
2001 ( 1820 m3) 2025
1000 m3 which is
16 scarcity + inequity
14 Africa reinforce
12
10
8 World
6 Asia
4
2
MEast & NAfrica
0
1960 1990 2025
India 16% of world population –only 4% of water resources; Utilizable water 1123 BCM
(Narasimham ( 2008) 654 BCM ) current usage 634 BCM (Plg Com 2010 )

5. Drinking Water: India - Census 2011
 87% of households using Tap, Tube well, Hand pump
and Covered well as source of drinking water
 36% of households have to fetch water from a source
located within 500 m in rural areas/100 m in urban
areas
 18% still fetch drinking water from a source located
more than 500 m away in rural areas or 100 m in urban
areas

8. Effort and costs/financing needs ith increased
India RWSS in Transition - Sustainability Concerns
coverage
Change India has entered the II
Danger zone: as basic Phase – deteriorating will
infrastructure is source push back…..
provided, coverage
risks stagnating at
around 60 – 80% Recurrent expenditure and
Sector support effort dominates
effort and
costs
Capital expenditure
dominates
Capital maintenance
expenditure dominates
25% 50% 75% 100%
Coverage rates
Source: Triple S

9. India RWSS: Graveyard of Investments
Causes : Source un sustainability (40%) Poor design, no ownership,
inadequate service/technology , lack of capacity/ incentives, no O&M,
water quality, no back support, O&M anarchy -decentralized
problems not solutions
Service Level (access, quantity, quality…) Kerala Case -
High drop out
ratio as 70%
community
schemes suffer
Capital investment source
/Project approach unsustainability
1 2 3 4 5 Years
30 to 50 % of facilities are no longer functioning after a few years -- of 1.66 million
habitations in India - 0.12 million quality affected and 0.44 million slipped back fully/partially

10. Critical water scenario
• India’s water resources are dwindling - overuse,
competing use and pollution
• Low investment in …water security are growing
concerns (World Bank, 2005; Mason and Calow,
2012).
• Irrigation accounts for 80% of usage in rural India
• 60% of irrigation and 80% of rural drinking water
come from ground water (World Bank, 2005).
• Drinking water services face critical ground /surface
water situation, competing user demands, and
increasing pollution

11. water security for sustainable
inclusive service delivery +
development

12. WATER SECURITY: SCHEMATIC FLOW
AGRICULTURE HOUSEHOLD INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT
SUSTAINA
DEMAND
SERVICE
BILITY
LEVEL
MGT
SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS ENVIRONMENT EXTERNALI
RESOURCE GOVERNANCE TIES
TECHNICAL ENV: FLOW
QUANTITY POLICY
NET
O&M CLIMATE FINANCING
QUALITY INSTITUTION INFLOW
FINANCIAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT
SANITATION/MS REGUATION X-M
WM/ HYGIENE TARIFF /COST RECOVERY
INCLUSION
EQUITY
Source: FAO adapted

13. Drinking Water security
• Drinking water security means providing every
human with enough, safe water
• for drinking, cooking and other domestic needs &
for livestock
• Including periods of drought and flood
• At all times and in all situations ( sustainably)
• Means Quantity, quality, equity and
environmental security
Source: GoI- WSP-SA 2012

14. Water Security: Prospects are Challenging
• Over dependence- ground water anarchy
• Climate change will aggravate the situation
• Source unsustainability accounts for 40-60%
under capacity utilization/unsustainability
• Source sustainability hither to rather ignored
in RWSS investments – fragmented
• NRDWP 2010 guidelines/XII Plan recognize a
positive move yet partial (in
convergence, regulation, decentralization, inequity)

15. Water security – Key pillars
Water security implies effective response to
changing water conditions in terms of
quantity, quality, equity & sustainability
• Convergence
• Public Investment - refocus on source
• Decentralised governance

16. Need U-Turn in Trajectory of Neglect
• Government role is to ensure access to
adequate and quality water as basic
human right
• Improved service delivery impossible with
out water security
• Public investment in ground water limited
–shift investment focus to source
sustainability and water security

17. Institutional Maize - STATE
How to converge?
Minister Minister Minister Minster Minister
Rural
WRD Development Urban Affairs Panchayath Agriculture
Principal Secretary
Principal Secretary
Secretary LSGD AGRI
WRD
Department Department Commissioner Director Director Soil
of Drinking Watershed
of Irrigation Water RD Panchayath Urban Conservation
Dist.
KWA KRWSA
Panchayath
Block
Municipality Corporation
Panchayath
Major Minor
Irrigation Irrigation Grama
Panchayath

18. Barriers to convergence Description
Policy incoherence Weak policy coherence and harmonisation
Weak legislation Water Acts / legislations archaic lack enforcement capacities
Political factors Coalition politics necessitate berth leading to fragmentation
of ministries
Institutional Fragmentation into vertical line departments
Budgetary fragmentation Budget allocations in line with departmental fragmentation
Financial auditing Accounting and auditing practices are in line with dept
fragmentation
Supply / top-driven delivery Weak participatory / consultative approached
models
Hardware driven engineering top-down solutions
Accountability Vertical accountability mechanisms with weak horizontal
flows
Decentralisation
Poor decentralisation – even reversals -top-down approaches
Perverse incentives Fragmentation has perverse incentives including corruption
Technical barriers Drinking water quality protocol, technical manuals etc.

19. Convergence Framework Menu
High Decentralization Medium Decentralization Weak Decentralization
Sub-National PRI centric Department lead
PRI lead + regulation NGO /SPV facilitated PRI focused
Stakeholder partnership Departments as Technical NGO /SPV Technical
Departments as Technical support Units support
support Units
Watershed master plans Watershed master plans Policy/planning
Plan/budget convergence Plan/budget convergence alignment
Institutional convergence Institutional convergence Budget alignment
Participatory bottom up Participatory bottom up Institutional alignment
Participatory/adaptive
National /State National /State National /State
Policies – alignment Policies – alignment Policies – alignment
Frameworks Frameworks
Frameworks
Incentives + grants Incentives + grants
Monitoring Monitoring Incentives +grants
Monitoring

20. Unsustainability – result of ‘’Hydroschizophrenia”?
• ‘’Hydroschizophrenia”- Schizophrenic view of
indivisible water resource – not recognising unity and
integrity of hydrological cycle (Llamas and Martinez-
Santos 2005; Jarvis et al 2005) – uncoordinated
fragmented approach – Cause?
• ‘’Vicious infinite regress” - attempt to solve a problem
in same lines reintroduces the same problem infinitely
(Wittgenstein 1953, Section 239) Effect?

21. Way Forward
• Gravity of problem known – water is indivisible yet
heavily contested
• Contours of prescriptions and isolated best cases
available
• Yet Water security elusive and prospects
worsening
• Need new approaches, new elements & new ideas
What innovative solutions for India to get out of
this ‘’vicious infinite regress’’

22. THANK YOU