JUNE 2005 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 8

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

UN-HABITAT to Develop Water Demand Management Strategy for M.P. Cities

In order to improve efficiency and equity of water supply
and water use in the city of Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior and
Jabalpur, and to give more influence to those currently
deprived of water and sanitation. UN-HABITAT is planning
to assist Municipal Corporations of these four cities of
Madhya Pradesh to develop Urban Water Demand Man-
agement Strategy under the WAC programme. The pro-
gramme plans to focus on all aspects of water demand
management: economic, social, technical, legal, adminis-
trative and institutional. Priority will be given to reduction
of Unaccounted for Water (UFW), rationalize water tariffs,
equity in distribution of services, regulation and realloca-
tion of resources. In this regard UN-HABITAT has en-
gaged WRP Consulting Engineers, a leading international
organization of South Africa in the field of Water Re-
sources Planning and Management, Water Conservation
and Environmental Management. WRP focuses on the
development of innovative and cost effective solutions to
promote efficient management of water related services.
The objective of developing Water Demand Management
(WDM) strategy and implementation plan for four cities of
M.P. after conducting a detailed water audit is that the
water leakages are minimized and available water supply
is efficiently and effectively distributed. To achieve this,
strategies will be developed to enhance awareness of
WDM, and promote effective WDM policies, programmes
and investments. WRP from South Africa shall also facili-
tate and capacitate WDM strategy and implementation
plan preparation by The Energy and Resources Institute
(TERI), New Delhi, as identified by UN-HABITAT for
Gwalior, Jabalpur and Bhopal after conducting a detailed
water audit. Another objective will be to build capacity at
all levels in the 4 municipal corporations mentioned above
for developing WDM strategy and implementation plans
for their cities. WRP together with TERI shall undertake
comprehensive water audit through data collection and
field surveys in Indore. Based on this, Water Demand
Management strategy shall be prepared for the city of
Indore to be implemented in due course of time. For this
Component Wise Estimation of UFW
Unaccounted for water
purpose, WRP shall be using Aqualibre Water Balance
Model, a state-of-the-art commercial water auditing model
in water auditing of the city. WRP shall also organize
training programme for the Municipal Corporation Staff
• National Develop-
and other stakeholders using software packages such as ment Council
Econoleak, Benchleak etc. and also present materials adopts Mid-Term
highlighting the dangers of intermittent water supply. Appraisal (MTA) of
The framework for WDM strategy shall detail out the the Tenth Five Year
policies that need to be developed at the beginning of the Plan (2002-2007)
initiative, strategies required for supporting these policies
and action plans as well as programmes and budgets to • Plan allocations to
support these strategies. The strategy framework shall be conditional on
also indicate both the financial and human resources
requirements and identify institutional platform for repre- Urban Reforms by
sentation of all stakeholders for facilitating the implemen- the State Govts.
tation of the proposed WDM strategy. The WDM strategy and Urban Local
framework shall also review the prevailing legislations,
regulations, by-laws and macro & micro policy framework
Bodies
and existing programmes. It shall also describe and • Million Plus cities
analyze both the external and internal institutional envi-
ronment in Municipal Corporations. The WDM strategy to get enhanced
shall also examine the financial status of Municipal Cor- level of plan
porations, the liquidity of the organization, water tariff assistance through
structures etc. for financial viability and sustainability of
NURM
the Corporations and, if necessary, recommend meas-
ures that may reduce non-revenue demand. • Each city to pre-
Water Supply Environment pare a perspective
plan for Urban In-
The WDM strategy framework shall examine (a) water
demands and water supply infrastructure and (b) current frastructure includ-
ing Water Supply
WDM initiatives, if any. The proposed WDM strategy shall
also deal with (i) economic strategies to take care of tariff and Sanitation
structures, billing procedures and revenue collection; (ii)
regulatory and promotional strategies covering aspects
such as regulations and by-laws, performance targets,
water auditing, school education, public awareness and Inside this issue:
customer relations etc. and (iii) technical strategies in-
cluding leak detection, pressure management, retrofitting
and removal of wasteful devices. Review of WATSAN 2
Schemes
Urban Infrastructure 2
Development Strategy

Real losses Apparent losses National Urban Renewal 3

Mission (NURM)

MDG Targets: 4
• Leakages (T&D Losses) • Metering errors A Case of Tiruchy
• Reservoir overflows. • Pilferage/unauthorized connections
• Billing anomalies
WATER FOR ASIAN CITIES PROGRAMME IN INDIA
Urban Water Supply & Sanitation: A Mid-Term Review of Central Plan Schemes
Safe drinking water supply and sanitation are basic human needs and
are crucial for achieving the goal of “Health for All”. The Tenth Five Year
Plan (2002 – 2007) envisaged the augmentation of water supply in ur-
ban areas in order to reach the prescribed norms, higher degree of
reliability, assurance of water quality, a high standard of operation and
management, accountability to customers and, in particular, special
arrangements to meet the needs of the urban poor as well as levying
and recovery of user charges to finance the maintenance functions and
to facilitate further investment in the sector. These achievements are to
a large extent, dependent on the willingness of the state governments
and ULBs to restructure water supply organisations, levy reasonable
water rates, take up reforms in billing, accounting and collection and
become creditworthy in order to have access to market funding.
Financial Performance
The performance of the various water supply and sanitation schemes
implemented by the Ministry of Urban Development, during first three
years of the Tenth Plan are given in Table below. Urban water supply
and sanitation is being handled mostly under the state Plan, except for
the Accelerated Urban Water Supply Programme (AUWSP), which is a
centrally sponsored scheme (CSS) for small towns with population less
than 20,000. There is no Central scheme or CSS in operation relating to
sewerage/sewage treatment except under National River Conservation
Plan (NRCP) which is meant for towns/cities located at the banks of
important rivers. The Tenth Plan outlay for urban water supply and sani-
tation was Rs.187,492 million (excluding the states of Arunachal
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttaranchal and the Union Territory of Lakshad-
weep) under state/Union Territory Plans.
Key Issues and Strategies
Paying adequate attention to operation and maintenance (O&M) of the
created assets could result in a 40-50 per cent improvement in their
useful life. There are a variety of reasons for the neglect of O&M: inap-
Table: Performance of Central Plan Scheme of Water Supply and sanitation
Scheme Tenth Plan
Outlay
1. Accelerated Urban Water Supply 9000.0
Programme
2. Low Cost Sanitation Programme 2000.0
3. National Scheme for liberation of 4600.0
scavengers
4. Solid waste Management and drain- 993.5
age in selected Airfield towns
Total 16593.5
Source: Mid-Term Appraisal of the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002 - 2007)
Page 2
propriate system design, multiplicity of agencies and overlapping of
responsibilities, inadequate training of personnel, lack of performance
evaluation and monitoring.
Leakages and UFW
Several pilot studies have shown that water losses in distribution ac-
count for between 20 and 50 per cent of the total flow in the system, with
the maximum leakage being caused in the house service connections.
In India, the water supply is by and large intermittent (supply hours rang-
ing from three hours to ten hours), and external pollution may get
sucked into the system at the points of leak during non-supply hours
(when the system is not under pressure), causing health hazards.
A systematic approach to the reduction of wastage of water from leaks
and preventive maintenance would obviate the need for augmentation
and also help in increasing revenue.
Water Tariffs & User Charges
The principal reason for the persistence of these problems is that the
urban water supply and sanitation service providers are not financially
viable. They cannot maintain the quality of services without large subsi-
dies. Their inability to impose a reasonable user-charge, itself a reflec-
tion of political constraints, is the major obstacle to their becoming finan-
cially viable.
In view of the pressure on budgetary resources, there is no alternative to
making suppliers of these services charge more reasonable tariffs thus
creating an environment in which they can access institutional finance
with government budgetary support limited to meeting viability gap re-
quirements.
Two other problems with urban water supply and sanitation service
providers are lack of autonomy and accountability and the lack of neces-
sary managerial skills. A shift to professionally managed financially
viable bodies will help address these problems.
(Rs. Million)
Estimated expenditure %
in first three years Expenditure
4035.1 46
400.0 20
952.2 18
409.9 34
5797.2 35
 JUNE 2005
New Strategy Planned for Urban
Infrastructure Development (UID)
The Mid-Term Appraisal of the Tenth Plan strategy for urban develop-
ment highlights unevenness in the schemes under way and inadequacy
of level of funding meet to the requirements of this sector. The general
deficiencies as recognized for the urban development sector are (a)
Financial non-viability of the systems at the city level (b) Patchy schemes
and grossly inadequate resources to meet the magnitude of the problems
and (c) Similar / overlapping objectives of many schemes. A two-track
strategy is now recommended with the focus on urban reforms and e-
governance:
• Convergence of urban development schemes
• National Urban Renewal Mission
Convergence of Urban Development Schemes
For providing assistance to improve urban infrastructure a centrally spon-
sored scheme, namely, Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme
(UIDS) is being evolved with the following features:
• Financial assistance in the ratio of 80:10:10
(Centre:state:financial institutions / own resources).
• Grants from the Government of India and state governments to
flow to a special revolving fund at the state level, with a stipula-
tion that at least 25 per cent of such grants (Centre and state)
released to ULBs to be ploughed back to this revolving fund for
sustainable development.
• The allocations available under IDSMT, Mega City, City Chal-
lenge Fund, Pooled Finance Development Facility and AUWSP
to be subsumed under the new scheme.
• Areas like, water supply, sanitation, drainage, sewerage and
solid waste management, roads, street lighting, urban transport
and other civic amenities to be covered under the new scheme.
• The state governments to execute Memoranda of Agreement
(MoAs) with the Government of India and ensure that the reforms
prescribed in the scheme are undertaken by the ULBs
Eligibility for assistance under UIDS is conditional to the implementation
of urban sector reforms as under:
• Implementation of decentralization measures as envisaged in the
Constitution (Seventy-Fourth Amendment) Act to establish
elected ULBs as institutions of self-government
• Accounting Reforms by ULBs for adoption of accrual-based
double entry system
• Passage of a public disclosure law to ensure preparation of me-
dium-term fiscal plans of ULBs and release of quarterly perform-
ance information to all stakeholders
• Passage of community participation law to institutionalize citizen
participation
• Transferring all special agencies that deliver civic services in
urban areas to ULBs over a period of five years and creating
accountability platforms for all urban civic service providers in
transition
• Introduction of e-governance using IT applications like, GIS and
MIS for various services provided by ULBs
• Property tax reforms to enhance ULB revenues
VOLUME 1 ISSUE 8
National Urban Renewal Mission
(NURM)
For the cities to realize their full potential and become true engines of
growth, the improvement of urban infrastructure and the institutional ser-
vice delivery mechanism at the city level need focused attention.
The Budget for 2005-06 includes a provision of Rs. 55,000 million for
National Urban Renewal Mission. The basic approach of the Mission is
that States willing to undertake urban sector reforms will be provided with
assistance that would help finance critical urban infrastructure. A key
assumption in designing the urban reforms is that the urban infrastructure
should be financially self-sustaining subject to the provision of a reason-
able amount of viability gap funding. The provision of Rs. 55,000 million,
however, is far from adequate. This is one of the areas where funding
requirements could increase substantially in the years ahead.
The National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM) would be a reforms-driven,
fast track, planned development of identified cities with focus on efficiency
in urban infrastructure/services delivery mechanism, community participa-
tion and accountability of ULBs towards citizens. The following broad
framework has been proposed for the centrally sponsored Mission:
• The sector-wise DPRs would be prepared by the identified cities enu-
merating projects for various components along with their priorities
• The funding pattern would be 35:15:50 (between Centre, States/ULBs
and financial institutions) for mega cities (>40 lakh population), 50:20:30
for cities with million plus but less than four million population and
80:10:10 for other cities
• The grant assistance (both Central and state) would act as seed money
to leverage additional resources from financial institutions/capital mar-
ket. The scheme would be implemented through a designated state level
nodal agency
• Every identified city would prepare planned urban perspective frame-
works for a period of 20-25 years (with five yearly updates) indicating
policies, programmes and strategies of meeting fund requirements. This
perspective plan would be followed by the preparation of Development
Plans integrating land use with services, urban transport and environ-
ment management
• The urban reforms would include both mandatory and optional items of
reforms. The cities seeking assistance under NURM would have to
undertake all the mandatory reforms within the prescribed time frame,
and at least five reforms from the optional category.
• Apart from the reforms listed under the UIDS, the mandatory reforms
include the following:
Drawing up PPP models for development, management and financing of
urban infrastructure for different sizes of ULBs; Introduction of independent
regulators for urban services; Rationalization of stamp duty to bring it down
to no more than 5 per cent within next five years; Repeal of the Urban Land
Ceiling and Regulation Act; Reform of rent control laws to stimulate private
investment in rental housing schemes; Implementation of a system to
improve the efficiency of drinking water supply on the basis of water audit
• The five optional reforms to be chosen from among the following:
Revision of by-laws to streamline the approval process for construction of
buildings, development of sites etc; Simplification of the legal and proce-
dural frameworks for conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural
purposes; Introduction of Property Title Certification System in ULBs;
Earmarking at least 25 per cent of developed land in all housing projects
(both public and private agencies) for the economically weaker sections /
low-income group category with a system of cross subsidization; Introduc-
tion of a computerized process of registration of land and property; Revision
of by-laws to make rainwater harvesting mandatory in all buildings to come
up in future; Reuse of reclaimed water; Adoption of water conservation
measures; Administrative reforms for reduction in the establishment cost
and achieving specified milestones in this regard.
Page 3
WATER FOR ASIAN CITIES PROGRAMME IN INDIA
Mayor of Indore participates
Achieving MDG Targets in Sanitation: A Case of Tiruchy in the UN-HABITAT – UNITAR
Five years ago, Tiruchi City was facing sanitation prob- suffering from water logging problems,compost toilets Conclave
lems including non-utilisation of existing public toilets, became the ideal solution (Kaliapalayam village in
Dr. Uma
open defecation and lack of personal hygiene. As a Musiri block). SCOPE another NGO constructed such
S h a s h i
result of the hard work of NGOs supported by WaterAid, toilets where human excreta is converted into farm
UK and the co-operation of State and City officials, they manure capable of being handled manually. Grama- Sharma,
were able to create awareness among community about laya also constructed the child friendly toilet complex at Mayor of
personal hygiene and sanitation. Once residents, espe- Karuvattupettai slum which was replicated in both Indore, India
cially women realized the benefits of toilet use they co- urban and rural areas and in the integrated sanitary participated
operated willingly and soon dilapidated public toilets complexes built under Tamil Nadu Urban Development in the inter-
were converted into modern toilets operated and main- Project II. Children liked this toilet as it was easy to national
tained by self-help groups. This message soon spread use. This ensured that children did not defecate in the meeting on
resulting in more slums demanding similar facilities. open. Initial doubts on women SHGs capability to “Access to Basic Services for All:
Very soon 7 slums were totally sanitized. Soon, Grama- maintain community toilets were overcome as the Financing Infrastructure at the
laya a local NGO constructed the nation’s first sanitation women successfully did the job. Soon, the SHGs built Local Level.” The meeting, organ-
park at its Centre for Toilet Techology and Training at up savings and were able to even pay electricity ised by UN-HABITAT and UNITAR,
Kolakkudipatti. This was emulated by various districts in charges levied on the public toilets. With the help of was held in Geneva on June 20 –
Tamil Nadu and by some states also. Similarly, in areas Water Partners International, a cost recovery project is 21, 2005. The major focus areas
currently being implemented in Morupatti, Kongangi- were the factors that lead to good
patti, Devarayapatti villages in Mettupalayam selection access to basic services in urban
grade panchayat wherein the cost of providing water settings, the institutional framework
connection and household toilets is recovered 100% and how it affects access, the
from the beneficiary. Meanwhile, Gramalaya soon hit options for financing these ser-
upon the idea of designing a cheap but durable plastic vices, and sharing of experiences
pan for use in rural and urban areas overcoming prob- of local governments.
lems of breakage and transportation. The easyflush
plastic toilet pan was the result. This pan in different Dr. Sharma, representing UN-
colours was attractive and could be transported in bulk HABITAT and local authorities in
without breakage. These pans have now been made the Asia-Pacific region argued for
part of the Total Sanitation Campaign in Tamil Nadu, higher investments for the provi-
thanks to the efforts of the Tamil Nadu State Rural sion of urban basic services and
The Child Friendly Toilet designed and built by Gramalaya at Karuvattupettai slum
in Tiruchi City where 100% safe disposal of faeces is ensured
Sanitation Society, Chennai and WaterAid UK. emphasized the need for pro-poor
governance framework.
UN-HABITAT joins UNICEF & SEI in National Workshop on Ecological Sanitation The event was a lead-up to a final
A national workshop on Ecological Sanitation organized from 27th June to 1st July 2005 concluded successfully in Ti- Declaration on Access to Basic
ruchy, Tamilnadu. The aim of the workshop, jointly organized by UNICEF, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and Services for All that is envisioned
local NGO SCOPE, was to impart national and international knowledge and promotion of Ecological Sanitation concept. by UN-HABITAT and UNITAR in
UN-HABITAT also joined the workshop which was participated by 50 professionals from various states of India including partnership with other UN agen-
Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharastra, Bihar, Tamilnadu and Madhya Pradesh. Smt Shanta cies, local authorities and stake-
Sheela Nair, Secretary, Rural Development, Govt. of Tamilnadu delivered the inaugural address. Dr. Roshan Raj holders. A draft resolution on this
Shrestha, Chief Technical Advisor, WAC Programme, UN-HABITAT, Nepal was among various resource persons for the issue was passed at the UN-
workshop. Dr. Shrestha spoke on approach of water and sanitation management through individual level at urban set- HABITAT Governing Council in
tings. He highlighted the need for Ecological Sanitation and focused on many other subjects such as Constructed Wet- April 2005. Supporting events,
land for wastewater treatment, greywater reuse and Fecal Sludge Management. Dr. Shrestha also elaborated on Solar such as the one above, are dis-
Water Disinfection and other related areas. Several national and international experts including Ms. Sumita Ganguly, cussing the various aspects of the
UNICEF India, Mr. Jan Olaf Drngert, Linkoping University, Sweden, Prof. Dr. Thorax – Axel Stenstrom, Swedish Institute
issue before the final Declaration
for Infectious Disease Control, Dr. Sharata Chandra, India, and Dr. Sam Godfrey, UNICEF, India interacted with the
takes place.
participants on different aspects of Environmental Sanitation with focus on Ecological Sanitation.

Editorial Team
UN-HABITAT
Editorial Board Gopal Reddy, Secretary, UADD, State Govt. of M.P EP-16/17, Chandragupta Marg, Chanakyapuri
Savitur Prasad, Director, Govt. of India New Delhi - 110021 (India), Tel: +91-11-24104970 - 73
Fax: +91-11-24104961, Email: Wac.India@unhabitat.org
S.N. Mishra, Project Director, UWSEIP, Bhopal
Debashish Bhattacharjee, ADB, India Resident Mission
WAC Programme Project Office
Aniruddhe Mukerjee, CTA, UN-HABITAT, Bhopal E-1/191, Arera Colony, Bhopal - 462016
Tel: +91-755-2460836-37, Fax: +91-755-2460835
Editor Kulwant Singh, CTA, UN-HABITAT, New Delhi

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