Reality has finally caught up with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi. Out of power, the AAP had promised to discontinue the practice of raising water rates annually by 10 per cent. But within a month of coming in power, it announced last week that those who consume more than 20 kilolitres (kl) a month will have to shell out 10 per cent more. Those who consume less, (even 19,999 litres) have to pay nothing. This is AAP's version of progressive taxation: Earn Rs 120 crore from those who consume more, to subsidise (Rs 250 crore a year) those who use less.

Will this work?



To seek a bill waiver, a household must possess a water meter, connected to a source of piped water. But as the Census 2011 figures show, nearly 20 per cent of Delhi households do not have access to piped water. Another 23 per cent (Delhi Jal Board figures) don't have water meters. While data on the economic profile of these households is not available, DJB says most of these are in unauthorised colonies and slums. Also, as 14 per cent of Delhi's population lives below the poverty line (BPL), it can be inferred that a substantial section of the BPL population does not have a DJB water source and a water meter. This, therefore, raises questions over whether the AAP's intent will translate on the ground, as a large section of its targeted population is likely to remain excluded.

The AAP government's scheme faces another implementation challenge. Around 30 per cent of households in Delhi live in rented accommodations (Census 2011). In most of these, the owner and renter share a common meter. As the number of users increases in such houses, the monthly usage will shoot beyond 20 kl. They too are likely to miss the waiver.

But is pricing of water even an issue in Delhi, where water disputes are common?Delhi is woefully short of water. Its daily requirement of water is around 1,000 million gallons (MGD) a day , but what it manages to get is only 800 MGD - a shortfall of 20 per cent. Further, nearly 40 per cent of this water is lost (in developed nations distribution losses are around 20 per cent) while being transported, as sections of the 11,500-km pipeline network regularly leak. The Delhi Economic Survey (2012) says most of these pipes are over 40 years old. In the past five years, only 1,200 km (around 10 per cent of the total) have been repaired or replaced.

Cities short of water make up by recycling waste water. Delhi fails here, too. Its sewage treatment plants are inadequate and inefficient. At best, as the Delhi Economic Survey notes, they can run at 60 per cent of their efficiency and can only treat 48 per cent of the total sewage Delhi generates. What is left untreated - around 350 MGD (35 per cent of Delhi's daily need) - is dumped into the Yamuna. Untreated sewage water, apart from contaminating the river, also pollutes ground water.

Giving free water also doesn't make sense for a body that is bankrupt. If the DJB would have been run as a private organisation, it would have closed shop a long time ago. Set up in 1998, DJB is responsible for both supply and distribution of water in areas under the jurisdiction of the municipal corporations of Delhi. In areas of the New Delhi Municipal Council and the Delhi Cantonment Board, it only supplies water.

In 2013, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) published an audit of the organisation. It found that in three years, from 2009 to 2012, the agency incurred a loss of nearly Rs 4,000 crore. The reason was simple: DJB was not charging customers for its services.

The audit revealed 60 per cent of the water the DJB was selling was generating zero revenue. According to the ministry of urban development, non-revenue water should not exceed 20 per cent. In Delhi's case, it was three times higher. Yet, citizens were unhappy as cheap water was not the issue. The main point was lack of water. To gauge the opinion of the public towards DJB, the CAG sent questionnaires to 584 randomly selected Residential Welfare Associations (RWAs). Analysis of the responses from 111 RWAs revealed 64 received water for less than two hours a day in summer, and 59 received water for less than two hours a day in winter.

Let's face it; the Delhi government cannot solve its water woes without first ensuring more water.

Delhi's water disputes



The problem, as table 2 shows, is there isn't much water that Delhi can claim as its own. Delhi is dependent on Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. There are disputes that Delhi has with each of these states. Hence, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will have to sit across the table and sort issues with the CMs of these governments, as also with the Centre. But, the nature of disputes tells a story of their own.

With Haryana, the dispute relates to the Munak canal. In 1990, the Haryana government proposed to construct an exclusive 102-km carrier system to join Munak, near Panipat, to Haiderpur in Delhi. The idea was to save water, as it was noted that 30-50 per cent of Yamuna's water got lost while transporting to Delhi through the Western Yamuna Canal system (first constructed in 1335 AD during Feroz Shah Tughlaq's rule).

The Delhi government agreed with Haryana's idea as it expected to save 80 MGD water daily, sufficient to run the treatment plants at Dwarka, Bawana and Okhla - solving South Delhi's water problem. The construction of the canal ended in June 2012. But, later a dispute arose between Delhi and Haryana over who was to get the 80 MGD of saved water. The dispute remains unresolved and is at present being heard by the Delhi high court, even as 80 MGD water is underutilised daily.

The other issue relates to construction of the Renuka Dam in Himachal Pradesh. This dam was expected to give Delhi another 275 MGD, as it would have brought Delhi's share of the Yamuna from Himachal. Though the project was implemented on paper in 1994, it was only in July 2014 that the ministry of environment and forests gave its nod to construct the dam.

What can be done



As is evident, both the Renuka dam and the Munak canal are issues which are unlikely to solve Delhi's problems anytime soon. However, in the meantime, the Delhi government can do much else.

First, it can increase its own water sources by building dams on the Yamuna. These dams were conceived in 1994 and so far, Rs 200 crore have been spent on these. But they are yet to become operational. Then, the government can ask DJB to clamp on illegal use of booster pumps that disturb the normal flow of water. Third, the government needs to pursue the task of linking more households to piped water and giving water meters more doggedly.

Last, the AAP government needs to solve how water is distributed in Delhi. At present, the process works as follows: Portable water is first pumped into underground reservoirs (UGRs) located in the command areas. From here, this is pumped into smaller UGRs. Henceforth, the water is sent to individual homes through transmission pipes. The pumping into UGRs is monitored by nine engineering divisions of the DJB, while another 22 civil divisions manage the transmission from these reservoirs to individual homes. However, the jurisdiction division of the area is done on the basis of Assembly constituencies. Hence, each engineering and civil division has to cater to more than two constituencies (Delhi has 70 Assembly constituencies). The problem is neither the engineering nor the civil division can estimate which constituency is getting how much water. Further, DJB still does not have the right meters to compute which section is leaking. As a result, no proper management of water can be done.