EVENTS

8th Sept., 2004

Public - Public Partnership:

A Dialogue Between Delhi’s Citizen and the Government

Water crisis in Delhi has been increasing every year. The scenario in metropolitan cities like Delhi may assume threatening proportions if immediate steps are not taken to avert the situation.

To discuss the problem a seminar “ Public - Public Partnership: A Dialogue between Citizens and Government” was held at India International Centre in New Delhi on 8th September, 2004, organized by Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), Water Workers Alliance, Pani Morcha and Resident Welfare Association (RWAs). The employees of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) also shared their experience.

Dr Vandana Shiva, Chairperson of RFSTE, cautioned the government if Tehri water is diverted to Sonia Vihar in Delhi through Upper Ganga Canal, it may cause great environmental and social implication, besides increasing the land slides in the fragile Himalayas. This will also cause political conflict between UP, Uttranchal & Delhi. We have already witnessed similar conflict between Haryana and Punjab over SYL. Tehri is the highest dam in the world of 280 metre height, if unfortunately it bursts, water may reach up to Delhi, playing havoc with the lives, and properties of the people.

The Financial institutions, like World Bank and Asian Development Bank promote and support the privatization which they call as Public Private Partnership. But we have formed the alliance to promote Public - Public partnership, i.e. how public and government can find the solution of the water crisis. There are various ways and alternatives to the privatization.

Mr. Gautam Rao, an engineering student in Delhi College of Engineering and an intern for a short term with RFSTE, made the vivid presentation on this issue. In Delhi, unaccounted water i.e. leakage on pipelines, illegal connection, non-metre connection, faulty metres is estimated to be around 40% i.e. about 1200 Mega Litres Daily ( MGD), which is almost twice the water which will be made available to Sonia Vihar through diversion of water from Tehri. Avidance of unaccounted water will lead to greater benefits to consumers as well as DJB in terms of revenue, postponement of large expenditure and other environmental benefits.

According to Mr Rao, unaccounted water may also be termed as Non-Revenue Water, since it consists of water which though produced in treatment plants at significant cost to DJB, is not associated with any cost recovery through billing. It is thus a direct financial loss to the utility. Further an increase in delivery through reduction of leakages implies a postponement or even obviation of planned failure investment in large projects to increase water supply.

Delhi has 9000 km of pipeline network, 13.47 lakhs connections, but there is a lack of data, lack of sufficiently trained manpower and low profile of maintenance. Through Public - Public Partnership, DJB may control the unaccounted water. Project should be implemented at colony level or group of colonies under the supervision of Resident Welfare Association (RWAs) and DJB should appoint one technical advisor to the RWAs to help them check this loss.

Shri Sudeshwar D. Sinha of Panni Morcha suggested some conventional means, which will have greater potential to conserve the water and therefore reduce the water crisis. We should maintain adequate flow in Yamuna, as river flow recharge the ground water. Delhi has the possibility of big reservoir, so we should build such reservoir near Najafgarh and Sainik Farm. Colony wise, rain water harvesting must be promoted. Small rain water harvesting may be done at home.

Smt. Amarjeet Kaur, a well known trade union leader, talked about the negligency of the government official and they do not work till the court intervene. Bureaucrats sit in the air condition room and never care for the poor. They are totally indifferent to our problems. Even the water from the Sonia Vihar will be supplied to the residents in posh colonies who can afford bottled water like Bisleri.

To pressurize the government officials we should involve Trade Unions & leaders of the area to interact with people.

Mr. S.A Naqvi of DJB highlighted the ever increasing level of pollution in Yamuna. When Yamuna enters Delhi, the water of Yamuna is reported of ‘B’ grade however when it leaves Delhi after traveling a strech of 48 km the quality of water deteriorates to “E” grade. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is responsible for 85% of water pollution to Yamuna. Besides three power plants in Delhi, Badarpur, Indraprastha and Rajghat discharge about an estimated 302 tonnes of fly ash everyday, which contaminate the ground as well as surface water due to bleaching of heavy metals present in the ash.

Mr. S.A Naqvi of DJB discussed about the potential for using ‘grey water’. Water from cloth washers, bath tubs, shower or bathroom sink may be called ‘grey water’. As much as 235 MGD of water can be saved in Delhi, if all the residents start using recycled ‘grey water’ for non drinking purpose. Grey water is the most effective as supplemental irrigation source, and car washing.

“By using grey water, we reduce the need to pump ground water and reuse it as a resource and protect putable water for future. Grey water can also save money on water bill. A family of five generates about 70 gallon of grey water per day. That is a lot of water going down the drain that has already paid for and that can be reused” said Mr Naqvi.

Mr. Sanjay Sharma of DJB discussed in detail about the financial sustainability of DJB through Public - Public Partnerships. The only problem is the loan liablities of about Rs 4000 crores, which infact is the legacy of parent organization, Delhi Water Supply & Sewerage Board. The initial amount was only Rs 1200 crores, which over the time has increased to Rs. 4000. It is an usual practice that whenever the government creates a new Department/ Board/ Organization, the loan liabilities are waived off. But this did not happen when DJB was created.

According to Mr. Sanjay Sharma, Delhi Jal Board was constituted by Delhi Jal Board Act 1998 (Delhi Act no 4 of 1998) to discharge the functions of water supply, sewerage and sewage disposal and drainage within the National Capital Territory region of Delhi. Accordingly it is responsible for supply of Water, sewage disposal and collection of revenue for the services provided within the jurisdiction of MCD area and also supply water in bulk to the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB) and respective agencies further distribute water in their corresponding areas. Similarly, sewage generated from NDMC and DCB areas is collected by respective agency and taken up by DJB for its disposal.

Presently there are about 1.5 million water connections and around 2996 MLD (Million Liters per day) of water produced at its six water treatment plants and is distributed among the 1.5 million consumers. Delhi Jal Board DJB collects and treats 2337 MLD of sewage at its 17 waste water treatment plants.

DJB was able to recover only Rs. 249.77 crore revenue from all its sources in 2003-04. The scenario of revenue collection always remain more or less same. The main recovery of revenue comes from water charges that contributes 98% of the total recovery and the rest 2% comes from other sources, like bio-gas charges and bio-fertilizer. During the year 2003-2004, when DJB recovered its highest-ever revenue Rs. 249.77 crores, only Rs. 35 lakh was contributed from bio-gas charges.

Delhi Jal Board has following type of consumers:

• New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Cantonment board
• Bulk consumers
• Domestic consumers categories
• Commercial consumers categories
• Industrial consumers categories

There are total number of around 14.98 million water consumers in Delhi utilizing DJB’s water and allied services. Out of this, 93% present of consumers are domestic, 6% are commercial and only 1% are industrial consumers.

In terms of consumption of water, 93% domestic consumers consume 86% of water, commercial consumers those are just 6% consume 10% of water and 1% industrial consume 4% of water, i.e. 660 MGD or 2996 MLD.

Delhi Jal Board is in deep debt trap. The organization whose total revenue recovery has yet to cross Rs 250 crores, spends Rs. 370 crore per year to provide water and sanitation services to the citizen. It will certainly sink one day if the situation is not addressed and taken care of. Its accumulated debt will cross Rs. 4000 crore in next few months.

There are some solutions available to this problem in which Government need to play a role.

Option A: Government may waive off the loan on Delhi Jal Board in one stretch as a social liability.
Option B: Government may waive off the loan on Delhi Jal Board in one stretch with the condition that Jal Board has to raise it’s own financial resources in future and will not opt for loans. An assistant package may be considered for DJB.
Option C: Government may waive off interest on Delhi Jal Board and take liability of interest on it. And may consider yearly financial assistant package for DJB as a social liability of it.
Option D: If Government decline to take responsibility of fiscal deficit, then public funding may be an answer.

According to Mr. Sharma, the steps need to be taken with Public-Public Partnership are the following:

1. Reducing leakage or non-revenue water.
2. DJB’s Bottled Water, ‘Jal’.
3. Utilization of sewage by-products.
4. Installation of Water connection by DJB (presently contracted plumbers do the work).
5. Horticulture work (DJB has large vacant land)
6. Deputing DJB staff on Tubewells/ Waterwells (Presently run by contractors)
7. Saving from optium dose of Alum, Poly Aluminium Chloride and Chlorine.
8. Water assurence Programme.
9. Recycling of Water.
10. Saving on Energy.
11. Internal reforms.

The reform is not a one day job. It takes time to achieve the targets and studies are required to check the results. The above scheme and alternative for the financial sustainability is summarized as:

• Development charges from uregulairsed/ unauthorized water connection = Rs 2131 Crore (in phase manner)
• Increasing revenue = Rs 499 Crore.
• Alternate source of income = 75 Crore.
• Internal Financial reforms = 47 Crore.

Total: 621 Crore extras + 2131 crore (onetime)

“The suggestion are based mainly on the experience gained from Public - Public Partnership of ground one globe” concluded Mr Sharma”.

Thus, according to Mr. Sanjay Sharma, through Public - Public Partnership DJB cannot only sustain but it can also earn the profits of Rs 621 crores per year without any staff retrenchment, without privatization of water and without increasing the tariff.

Shri Radhey Shayam Sharma, General Secretary of Yamuna Vihar Resident Welfare Association, made some suggestion to improve the water availability in Delhi. According to Mr Sharma, we should not divert drinking water for irrigation. We should immediately inform about the leakage of water to DJB. We must conserve water by using it prudently. Inter linking of rivers will need astronomical amount of money and very long gestation period, however reservoir can be made with little amount and in very less time.

Mr Radhey Shayam Sharma added, “We should also not create panic in the public by creating an alarm for water scarcity. There is a need to think positively to avert the crisis”.