DECEMBER 2004 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 2

A NEWSLETTER FOR WATER FOR ASIAN CITIES PROGRAMME IN MADHYA PRADESH (INDIA)

UN-HABITAT’s System Capacities in Support of Water for Asian Cities

Programme in India
UN-HABITAT (formerly UNCHS) was established in tion’s key water initiatives are the two regional pro- Important News
1978 and is the lead agency for Human Settle- grammes, namely, the Water for African Cities Pro-
ments. It works to reduce poverty and promote gramme and the Water for Asian Cities Programme. • UN-HABITAT prepar-
sustainable development within the context of a The objectives of the Water for African Cities Pro- ing for the Develop-
rapidly urbanizing world. The UN-HABITAT has gramme and Water for Asian Cities Programme are ment of Water Con-
been assigned, among other things the responsibil- to reduce the urban water crisis in cities through servation & Demand
ity for coordinating the implementation of the Habi- efficient and effective water demand management, to
Management Strat-
tat Agenda adopted by 171 countries at the “City build capacity to reduce the environmental impact of
Summit” held in Istanbul in 1996. urbansation on freshwater resources and to boost egy for the city of
awareness and information exchange on water man- Indore (Madhya
UN-HABITAT has been working on strategies for agement and conservation. Pradesh)
urban poverty reduction which are based on norms
and principles that include, among others, sustain- The work programme of the various divisions of UN- • DFID proposes to
able urban development, adequate shelter for all, HABITAT contribute to the achievement of its strate- support Urban Water
improvement in the lives of slum dwellers, access gic vision. The Monitoring and Research Division Supply and Environ-
to safe water and sanitation, social inclusion, envi- through its programme of Global Urban Observatory mental Improve-
ronmental protection and the various human rights. gathers, organizes, analyses and disseminates infor- ment loan project of
With a sharp focus on urban poverty, in particular, mation on all subjects that impinge on urban poverty
ADB in Madhya
slums as the most visible manifestation of urban and slums. Similarly MRD’s Best Practices pro-
poverty, the UN-HABITAT’s strategic vision which is gramme is now focusing on good policies related to Pradesh through an
consistent with social norms and political principles urban poverty alleviation, shelter and sustainable Urban Poverty Re-
as well as with UN-HABITAT mandates, capabilities human settlements development. UN-HABITAT duction Programme
and partners’ objectives has the following elements. through its global campaigns on (a) Secure Tenure
and (b) Urban Governance is trying to address the
• Capacity Building
1. Knowledge management and reporting, issues relating to slums and urban poverty. The Programme on
expanding the global understanding of urban Training and Capacity Building Branch concentrates “Sanitation Tech-
development, shelter and poverty, and track- on improving knowledge, skills and attitudes of local nologies” is being
ing progress in implementing the Habitat government officials and civil society partners. organized in India
Agenda; Among the other important programmes of UN- by UN-HABITAT in
2. Advocacy of norms for sustainable urbaniza- HABITAT include the Localising Agenda 21 Pro- collaboration with
tion and urban poverty reduction, carried gramme, the Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP), SIITRAT for Profes-
forward through two global campaigns and a the Urban Management Programme, the Risk and sionals from African
number of global programmes; Disaster Management Programme and the Safer
Countries
Cities Programme.
3. Technical cooperation in linking norms and
campaign/programme goals to urban poverty The Regional and Technical Cooperation Division,
the operational arm of the UN-HABITAT has a portfo-
Inside this issue:
reduction activities on the gound.
lio of 150 ongoing projects and about 50 pipeline
4. Innovative financing for urbanization and projects in 61 developing and transition countries. In Pro-poor Urban Water and 2
specific shelter needs of the urban poor; Sanitation Governance
addition, RTCD provides substantive advisory ser-
5. Strategic partnerships to leverage resources vices for project formulation and development as part
Community–Municipal part- 2
and coordinate international programme ac- of the UN-HABITAT’s Technical Cooperation.
nerships
tivities that work toward similar ends. UN-HABITAT has entered into several types of stra-
tegic partnerships for tackling urban poverty more ADB Assistance in Urban 3
The work programme of UN-HABITAT includes
effectively. These partnerships include alliances with Sector in India
shelter and social services; urban management;
environment and infrastructure; and assessment, the Cities Alliance; UNDP; Regional Development
Banks (Asian Development Bank and IDB); Private India’s Urban Water Supply 3
information and monitoring. Water and sanitation and Sanitation Scenario
are important focus areas. Among the organiza- Sector; and the Partnership programmes with sev-
eral Multi-laterals and Bi-laterals.
Implementing WCDM Strat- 4
egy
WATER FOR ASIAN CITIES PROGRAMME IN INDIA
Editorial
Developing a framework for Pro-poor Urban Water and Sanitation Governance
Governments are invariably involved in the provision of Water and Sani-
tation services. Generally they work to ensure that all residents have
access to adequate water and sanitation. However, these arrangements
often fail the urban poor, particular the slum dwellers, who are at a dis-
advantage in both the market and in the public policy arena. The poor
generally end up using water and sanitation systems that are unhealthy
and even illegal. There is, therefore, a need for developing a framework
for Pro-poor Urban Water and Sanitation Governance in the overall
context of managing water and sanitation utilities; supporting community
driven water and sanitation initiatives and working with informal sector
water vendors so that governments and other actors work together to
install and manage the water and sanitation systems.
Unfortunately the conventional approach to water and sanitation man-
agement is highly bureaucratic rather than open and transparent; expert
driven rather than inclusive and communicative and is generally biased
in favour of those able to access the large water and sanitation networks
rather than equitable and ethical. Water utilities are generally unaccount-
able, inefficient, unresponsive to consumer demands or environmentally
unsustainable. With these perceived weaknesses in existing water and
sanitation governance, Global Water Partnership (GWP) has identified
several principles of effective water governance that suggest ap-
proaches which are open and transparent; inclusive and communicative;
coherent and integrative and equitable and ethical.
At the same time, performance and operation has to be accountable,
efficient, responsive and sustainable. We, therefore, have to move be-
yond sectoral and segmented models of water governance towards
coherent and integrated ones. We have to put unserved or inadequately
served residents at the centre of urban water governance. The obstacles
to improving water and sanitation provision for low-income households
that are unserved and inadequately served do seem to be in large part
institutional rather than technical.
Community–Municipal partnerships to improve sanitation in India
Community-based organizations demonstrated that they could plan,
build and manage community toilet blocks in slum areas that were bet-
ter designed and managed than those built by local government. But it
was only when municipal governments worked in partnership with them
that a large-scale programme was possible. Today, hundreds of thou-
sands of people in low-income areas of Mumbai and Pune have much
better quality toilets and washing facilities because of government–
community partnerships. Two community organizations (the National
Slum Dwellers Federation and Mahila Milan – savings and loans coop-
eratives formed by women slum and pavement dwellers) and a local
NGO (SPARC) developed community toilets that were better designed
and managed than conventional government-funded, contractor-built
toilets. But it only became possible for these to be constructed on a
large scale when the municipal commissioner in the city of Pune de-
cided to get NGOs and community organizations involved in replacing
or building 440 toilet blocks. A third of the construction costs were to
come from the city, a third from the state government and a third from
the national government. A further condition was that NGOs/
communities would agree to maintain the toilets for a set period, as
government did not have the capacity or resources to do this. SPARC,
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In Madhya Pradesh where Urban Water Supply and Environmental
Improvement Project is going to be implemented in 4 towns through an
ADB loan, the Pro-poor Governance framework has to support commu-
nity driven water and sanitation initiatives; manage networked water and
sanitation systems, bring in small scale water vendors and sanitation
providers and get the best out of the private enterprises, public agencies
and civil society groups so that the new water governance has an institu-
tional framework which is pro-poor and free from corruption. The new
framework must have transparency, accountability and the rule of law.
Key relationships of power and accountability
Source: World Bank (2003) World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work
for Poor People, The World Bank and Oxford University Press, Washington DC
This diagram emphasizes the role of negotiation in ensuring that services such as water work
better for low-income people. The underlying framework is based on the notion that demand
for improvements needs to come from the poor people themselves and that the level of
improvement will depend on the influence that poor people bring to bear on the service
providers either directly or via the government.
Mahila Milan and the National Slum Dwellers Federation successfully
bid for 114 toilet contracts. The new toilet blocks were light and airy,
with tanks to ensure a constant water supply (conventional toilet blocks
often ran out of water), and with toilet blocks at the front specially de-
signed for children (children are frightened of using smelly dark pit la-
trines and haven’t the same capacity as adults to queue). The blocks
included a home for a caretaker, who also helps to collect a small
monthly fee from community members to pay for maintenance. Some
blocks had a community hall built on top. The scheme in Pune has
encouraged other slum dwellers and municipal authorities to try similar
approaches, and these same three organizations obtained a contract to
build 320 toilet blocks in the slums of Mumbai. As a result of these com-
munity–municipal partnerships, hundreds of thousands of ‘slum’ house-
holds in Pune and Mumbai now have clean, cheap, easily accessed
toilets with facilities for washing. There are plans to promote this new
approach in smaller towns and cities, where local resources and capac-
ity are even tighter. SPARC, Mahila Milan and the National Slum Dwell-
ers Federation also have many other projects and programmes to im-
prove conditions for low-income households that are being developed in
partnership with local governments and national government agencies
(Burra, Patel and Kerr, 2003).
 DECEMBER 2004 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 2

ADB Assistance in Urban Sector in India

ADB’s involvement in India’s urban sector began in 1993 with TA to Since 1990s, the Government of India has treated external assistance to
prepare an urban infrastructure project in Karnataka. Since then ADB states as ‘additionality’ over the Plan allocations. This assistance is
has provided 22 TA grants totaling US$ 11.35 million to prepare projects channeled on the basis of a 70:30 loan / grant ratio at a fixed interest
and support capacity building. Since 1995, ADB has approved loan for rate. The foreign exchange risk is borne by the GoI. The state of
seven projects in the urban sector. Totalling to US$ 1.4 billion; Karna- Madhya Pradesh, although accounting for 13.5 % of the geographical
taka Urban Infrastructure development (US$ 105 million), Rajasthan area, 8 % of the population, and more than 5 % of states’ domestic
Urban Infrastructure Development (US$ 250 million), Karnataka Urban product, has received comparatively low levels of external assistance.
Development and Coastal Environment Management (US$ 175 million),
Urban Environmental Infrastructure Facility (US$ 200 million), Kolkata
Environment Improvement (US$ 250 million), and Housing Finance I Existing Provision of Urban Services in four Project Cities in M.P.
and II (US$ 420 million). In addition, ADB has approved a loan of US$ (per cent)
500 million for Gujarat Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction in Urban Services Project Cities
2001. Bhopal Gwalior Indore Jabalpur
Population served by piped water supply 67 68 68 89
The TA of US$ 200 million ADB loan assistance to Madhya Pradesh is
Population with household connections 37 62 48 34
the first urban sector assistance to the State. Other recent ADB’s assis-
Unaccounted for Water 64 64 52 52
tance to the state includes: Madhya Pradesh Public Resource Manage-
ment Program (US$ 250 million approved in October 2001), and Hours of supply 2-3 hrs 1 hr 1hr 2-3 hrs
Madhya Pradesh Power Sector Development Program (US$ 350 million Average lpcd 87 93 66 67
approved in November 2001). The former is aimed at assisting state- Sanitation and Drainage
level fiscal reforms through a structural adjustment facility. As part of Population served by reticulation system 7 9 10 0
fiscal reforms and public sector restructuring program the GoMP, Population with served with septic tank 30 30 44 50
amongst others, is committed to reduce primary deficit to below 1.0 per Septic tanks working satisfactorily 11 2 8 5
cent of state domestic product, introduction to value-added tax, im- Household reporting problems with flooding 41 20 33 32
proved cost recovery – water charges to cover at least 75 per cent of O Solid Waste
& M expenditure and adoption of flexible wage policy enabling ULBs to Waste collected 60 60 60 60
have separate service conditions and salary scales. Waste to safe disposal 0 0 0 0

India’s Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Scenario

Urban Water Supply
The present status of urban water supply and sanitation in India is ex-
tremely inadequate. According to an estimate, about 89 percent of the
urban population – about 57 per cent with house service connections
and about 32 per cent with standpost - had access to safe drinking water
supply facilities at the end of the Ninth Five Year Plan i.e. March 2002.
However, the figure does not reflect adequacy and quality of water. As
per the recent statistics, the water availability per day is exceedingly
limited ranging from 2 to 8 hours in a day as against 22 hours Sri Lanka
and 24 hours in Malaysia. Thus, even the figure of 89 per cent is per-
haps misleading. The service levels also vary dramatically among differ-
ent categories of the cities. Even in some of the Class-I cities (having
population above 100,000) the service levels fall below the national
standard of 135 lpcd, with Class-II cities (having population between
10,000-20,000) receiving only an average of 55 lpcd.
about 30 per cent with on-site sanitation (low cost sanitation and septic
tank) facilities. Of the total municipal waste water generated in cities and
towns, less than half is collected and what is collected, less than half
goes through some form of treatment (invariably primary) before final
disposal. The high cost of conventional sewage treatment places this
option out of the reach of the most of the urban local bodies. It is esti-
mated that about 80,000 metric tones of solid waste is generated in
urban areas every day, of which about 60 per cent is collected and dis-
posed of as open dumping.
Result of Deteriorating Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector
Inadequate urban water supply and sanitation facilities and deteriorating
urban environment have been deterring India’s social and economic
development and affecting adversely the quality of life of its people,
particularly the urban poor.

Further, on the urban water supply front, transmission and distribution
networks are largely of very poor quality, in addition to being outdated
and badly maintained, resulting in higher operating costs. Physical
losses are typically high, ranging from 25 to over 50 per cent. Low pres-
sures and intermittent supplies lead to back siphoning, resulting in con-
tamination in distribution network. Unsatisfactory service standards have
led to low tariff structures, which in turn have resulted in poor resource
position of ULBs, poor maintenance and service – a vicious circle.
Urban Sanitation
At the end of the Ninth Five Year Plan, 60 per cent of the urban popula-
tion had sanitation facilities – 30 per cent with sewerage facilities and
The substantial deficiencies in supply of potable water has led to wide-
spread water- borne diseases like diarrohea, hepatitis, jaundice, round-
worm and hookworm which not only affect public health, but also impact
on the environment and add to economic costs. It is estimated that 30.5
million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) are lost each year due to
poor water quality, sanitation and hygiene. If considering merely the
economic value of life year at the average per capita GDP of US $ 300
per person per annum, the annual loss of 30.5 million DALYs is about
US $ 9150 million.
Inadequate sanitation facilities have caused contamination of surface
and ground water contributing to environmental pollution. Inadequate
collection and treatment of solid waste has led to unhygienic conditions,
namely soil and water contamination, chocking of drains etc.

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WATER FOR ASIAN CITIES PROGRAMME IN INDIA
Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council:
Implementing Water Conservation and Demand Management Strategy
The City of Johannesburg forms the largest urban complex in South Africa and
one of the largest on the African continent. It supports a population of more than
3.5 million people of which almost 500,000 are located in informal settlements.
Water is supplied at the reticulation level by the recently formed company
“Johannesburg Water” which supplies approximately 380 million m3/annum (1050
Ml/day) on a continuous basis. All bulk water is potable and is supplied by Rand
Water which treats the raw water to international drinking standards before sup-
plying to various customers. Rand water is the largest bulk water supplier in
South Africa with an average supply of approximately 3 000 Ml/day.
The non-revenue water in the City of Johan-
nesburg is estimated to be in the order of
40% of the total supply of which approxi-
mately half is through apparent losses and
the remaining half through real leakage. As a
result of high level of non-revenue water,
Johannesburg recently embarked upon an
extensive programme to tackle the problem
throughout its area of jurisdiction.
The GJMC has considered the issue of non-
revenue water to be very important and a
relatively large budget allocation has been
approved to address various aspects of
water loss control.
Water Conservation Strategy
Johannesburg was selected by UN-HABITAT as the representative city for South
Africa under the Water for African Cities Programme and the programme devel-
oped a new demand side focus to urban water management with emphasis on
reduction of unaccounted for water. The development of Water Conservation
Strategy was part of a project which involved the following three components:
• The development of a water conservation strategy for the Greater Johan-
nesburg Metropolitan Council;
• A review of existing retrofitting projects and other measures to reduce
unaccounted-for water in the GJMC and Rand Water areas; and
• A review of existing Management Information Systems (MIS) and the
development of a model system for effective and efficient water manage-
ment.
The key elements of the Water Conservation Strategy for the City of Johannes-
burg are as under:
• Efficient Distribution and Operation
Management zones: The strategy recommends that all former management
zones should be re-established and new zones created where necessary to
provide complete management zone coverage for the whole supply area; Moni-
toring DAW in each zone: Monitoring of Minimum Night Flows should be under-
Editorial Team
Editorial Board Gopal Reddy, Secretary, UADD, Government Board
Savitur Prasad, Director, Govt. of India
UWSEIMP Project Director/ Deputy Project Director
Debashish Bhattacharjee, ADB, India Resident Mission
Professor H.M. Mishra, State Academy of Administration
Guest Editor P.S. Mathur, CITI Foundation, India
Managing Editor Kulwant Singh, CTA, WAC Programme
taken in all management zones at regular intervals to identify areas of high
leakage; Pressure Management: Pressure management coverage to be in-
creased to all areas where such measures are financially viable; Mains replace-
ment programme: Pipelines for replacement to be prioritised based on burst
frequency analysis etc.; Active and passive leakage control: Active Leakage
Control to be extended to cover the whole supply area, excluding areas where it
is known that leakage is low; Pilot Projects: Pilot projects to be used to test new
techniques and or equipment that may be effective in reducing the non-revenue
water.
• Efficient use and control of Demand
Retrofitting: All schools and municipal and/or
government buildings within the City of Jo-
hannesburg to be investigated and prioritised
for retrofitting. All automatic flushing urinals in
government and/or municipal buildings,
schools and all other places of education to
be replaced as a matter of priority; Tariff
Structures and Billing Procedures: A
standard tariff policy to be developed for use
throughout the whole City of Johannesburg
supply area. The policy for metering and
billing to establish a cost effective procedure
for controlling water use and providing an
effective billing system; General Education
and Public Involvement: The City of Johan-
nesburg to play a more active role in general education including school educa-
tion and public involvement with regards to efficiency of water use; Payment for
Water and Illegal Use: All connections in the City of Johannesburg to be indi-
vidually metered; Legislation: Certain new by-laws to be promulgated to encour-
age water use efficiency.
• Accounting for all Water
Water Audits: An annual water auditing procedure to be established for all
sections of the City of Johannesburg supply area; Bulk and Management Me-
ters: All bulk and management meters to be checked for accuracy; Consumer
Meters: All consumers in the City of Johannesburg to be metered; Reconciling
Meter Readings: Meter readings to be reconciled using the new MIS system;
Performance Targets: A review of the performance to be undertaken annually
and the targets re-defined if they are found to be unrealistically high or low.
• Water Resource Management
Supporting National Policies: The City of Johannesburg shall continue to
support the water conservation policies where the costs involved can be justified
by the savings achieved.
The City shall also encourage (a) Rainwater Harvesting, (b) Water Wise Garden-
ing, (c) Recycling of Waste Effluent, and (d) Greywater Use.
UN-HABITAT
Water for Asian Cities Programme Office
EP-16/17, Chandragupta Marg, Chanakyapuri
New Delhi - 110021 (India)
Tel: +91-11-24104970 - 73
Fax: +91-11-24104961
Email: Kulwant.Singh@unhabitat.org
Website: www.unhabitat.org & www.unwac.org
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