Socialism on tap

Most Indians visiting, say, the United States for the first time are genuinely surprised that people can drink water flowing out of a bathroom tap. This is not a hi-tech, heavy-duty achievement; it8217;s something that is, theoretically, very achievable. Yet it appears so alien to India.

Let alone potable water, no town or city in India is guaranteed an uninterrupted, 24-hour supply of water. Even so, as a Bank study points out, this is not due to water scarcity: 8216;8216;Most Indian cities have more water available to them than the 130-150 litres per capita per day lpcd norm laid down by the government of India. Less endowed cities in other developing countries, like Jakarta 80 lpcd, Dakar 90 lpcd and Colombo 119 lpcd, provide water 24215;7.8217;8217;

Far from running out of water, Delhi is swimming in an ocean as it were. It has an allocation of 250 lpcd and has no business, really, allowing those taps to run dry. If residents of India8217;s capital receive no more than three to four hours of water a day 8212; and that8217;s when they8217;re lucky 8212; don8217;t blame nature, global warming or the Thar desert.

The fault lies with a completely mismanaged, socialist-era dinosaur called DJB.

What is true for the capital is even truer for other urban centres. Consider other biting numbers. International best practices necessitate a water utility staff of two per 1,000 connections. Indian cities typically have 12 employees per 1,000 connections; DJB has 18.

Between 30-50 per cent of the water 8216;8216;produced8217;8217; by Indian urban water utilities is wasted. Global norms, the Bank says, are in the 10-15 per cent range. Indian water utilities take over a year 8212; an average of 12.9 months! 8212; to collect bills, 8216;8216;against an international best of 1.8 months8217;8217;.

Since user charges are low and utilities are packed with babus and clerks who treat their jobs as sinecures, financial collapse is inevitable.

Again DJB provides a shining example: 8216;8216;Until end 2004, revenues from its water supply and sanitation services covered only about 60 per cent of DJB8217;s operating costs; maintenance has, as a result, been minimal.

8216;8216;In the past, DJB has relied heavily on loans from the state government to meet its capital and recurrent expenditures 8212; of the magnitude of Rs 250 crore/year and Rs 500 crore/year respectively. Hence DJB8217;s balance sheet is loaded with a huge debt totalling about Rs 6,250 crore that it is unlikely to be able to service.8217;8217;

It8217;s the classic PSU vicious circle: inefficiency leading to poor quality, low quantity, and more inefficiency.

In response, the rich call a tanker and buy bottled water. The poor often don8217;t have the luxury. Recently, an Asian Development Bank study 8216;8216;showed that the cost of securing 500 litres of water from private community standposts today is 70 times more than the metered cost of the same quantity of water secured through a household connection.8217;8217;

There were impolite sniggers in some circles this past week when a document circulated at the World Bank8217;s Delhi office compared the water supply experiences of Delhi and Ivory Coast.

This was some coincidence. 8216;8216;Only days earlier,8217;8217; pointed out a senior consultant, 8216;8216;Indian newspapers had carried reports of Ivory Coast topping the list of 8216;failed states8217;, as drawn up by Foreign Policy magazine. And here was this study 8230;8217;8217;

The comparison begins innocuously. Delhi population: 15 million and Ivory Coast five million both provide water access to 70 per cent of their people. Delhi is, of course, the heavyweight 8212; 1.5 million water connections and a production of 250 lpcd. Ivory Coast can service its 600,000 connections with only 110 lpcd.

That8217;s where the good news ends:

8226; DJB provides consumers water for four hours a day; Ivory Coastwallahs celebrate 24 hours of running taps.

8226; DJB eventually collects 80 per cent of its bills; in Ivory Coast, it8217;s 98 per cent.

8226; DJB has 18 employees per 1,000 connections; Ivory Coast has 3.5.

8226; DJB meters no more than 30 per cent of water consumers; Ivory Coast has hit 100 per cent.

8226; Here8217;s the kicker 8212; DJB has many tariff bands, with an average fee of Rs 7 per cubic metre. Ivory Coast has two bands and charges, roughly, Rs 25, but there8217;s no need to pay extra for a tanker or bottled water.

The crucial difference is that Ivory Coast has handed charge of its water utility to a private company. In India, even a limited World Bank proposal to outsource a part of DJB8217;s operations to private players can evoke shock, horror and, on particularly sad weekends, unending magazine articles by former Booker Prize winners.

The first rule of Indian governance is: when faced with a choice, do nothing. As such, Delhi, its administrators and its residents can sit back, insist DJB is fine and fulfilling a social purpose, refuse to pay more for water, scowl at the idea of private bill collectors 8212; and continue to make Messrs Kinley, Bisleri and Aquafina very wealthy.

Alternatively, they can grasp the nettle 8212; and preserve India from the embarrassment of becoming the world8217;s first superpower with dry taps.