Why India Needs Better Water Management

India is one of those countries where most of the available water is consumed. And India's predicament is not unique. Thirty-seven countries in the world consume 80 per cent of their available water because water sources are not harnessed optimally. But this does not happen in the First World countries, where water management is par for the course.

George Mason University professor Alex Tabarrok says that India struggles to provide water to 3.2 million people of Meghalaya, despite the state being the wettest place on earth. This cannot be because of an intrinsic shortage of water.

Nearly half the Indian cities do not have a piped water connection. Economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia points out that even in Indian cities with a piped water supply system, people get water supply only for one to six hours a day.

The reason is often political. For example, in Gurgaon, the absence of a good water supply system is a major barrier to increasing the supply of land and thus making housing affordable. The government has not done a good job in providing water supply and sanitation in the Millennium City. This is true of many other Indian cities as well.

The difference is that Gurgaon has tried to deal with it by providing water through private means. In this city, where there is private water supply, groundwater is replenished faster than the supply of water it gets from rain. The Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) creates more water bodies, but the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon does not have the authority to create a well-integrated water-sewage system. So, the municipal corporation can easily blame Huda for creating water bodies that are not helpful, without constructively dealing with the problem.

There often isn't a clear demarcation between the services provided by various authorities. When there is no clear division of responsibilities, it is not easy to pin the blame on a government body when something goes wrong. Similarly, when sewage is dumped in water bodies, it is difficult to make people accountable – sewage provision in Gurgaon is private, while many water bodies are public. Private sewage providers dumping waste in public water bodies, though, are not punished often.  

Some Indian cities may have a genuine shortage of water. But this will not by itself lead to poor water supply. Countries like Singapore, for example, have no freshwater lakes or aquifers. But Singapore has about the best water management system in the world. Why? Singapore imports nearly 40 per cent of its water from Malaysia. The country employs superior practices in collecting, recycling and conserving water.

In India, if urban local authorities manage water, many such problems will disappear. Singapore, for example, is a city state but it has among the best water management systems in the world. There is no legitimate reason why Indian cities cannot emulate Singapore.