Pani Haq Samiti, Mumbai

Pani Haq Samiti (Right to water committee)

WATER

“The earth, the air, the land and the water are not am inheritance from

our fore fathers but on loan from our children. So we have to handover

to them at least as it was handed over to us.”

-- Mahatma Gandhi

Water is the most auspicious element of ecology which

binds all them together in different forms and means and

it is the pre-condition of any kind of living being on the

planet Earth.

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Right to drinking water (International accords)

“Water is fundamental for life and health. The human right to water is

indispensable for leading a healthy life in human dignity. It is a pre-requisite to

the realization of all other human rights.”

—The United Nations committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights

Sixty–Fourth General Assembly of United Nations Adopted Resolution Recognizing

Access to Clean Water, Sanitation as Human Right on July 28, 2011 of which India is a

signatory.

Right to drinking water is also recognized in other UN’s International accords like

CEDAW and General Comment-15 specifies the parameters of drinking water supply like

accessibility, availability, affordability, and quality.

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Other International instruments

• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

Article 14(2)(h): To enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to housing, sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport and communications.

• Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Article 24 (c): To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care, through, inter alia, (…) the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water (…)

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Continued…

• Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

Article 28(a): To ensure equal access by persons with disabilities to clean water services, and to ensure access to appropriate and affordable services, devices and other assistance for

• Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa :

Article 15(a): (a) Provide women with access to clean drinking water, …

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Normative content of drinking water

United Nations General Comment 15; The right to water (arts. 11 and 12 of the international Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) describes the issues in the drinking water supply and under the normative content of Right to water defines the characteristics of water supply which is essential for the full realization of Right to water which precondition for the realization other human rights too. The factors are :

1. Availability

2. Quality

3. Accessibility

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Availability

The water supply for each person must be sufficient and continuous for personal and domestic uses. These uses ordinarily include drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, personal and household hygiene. The quantity of water available for each person should correspond to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Some individuals and groups may also require additional water due to health, climate, and work conditions;

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Quality

The water required for each personal or domestic use must be safe, therefore free from micro-organisms, chemical substances and radiological hazards that constitute a threat to a person’s health. Furthermore, water should be of an acceptable colour, odour and taste for each personal or domestic use.

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Accessibility

• Physical accessibility: water, and adequate water facilities and services, must be within safe physical reach for all sections of the population. Sufficient, safe and acceptable water must be accessible within, or in the immediate vicinity, of each household, educational institution and workplace. All water facilities and services must be of sufficient quality, culturally appropriate and sensitive to gender, lifecycle and privacy requirements. Physical security should not be threatened during access to water facilities and services;

• Economic accessibility: Water, and water facilities and services, must be affordable for all. The direct and indirect costs and charges associated with securing water must be affordable, and must not compromise or threaten the realization of other Covenant rights;

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Cont….

• Non-discrimination: Water and water facilities and services must be accessible to all, including the most vulnerable or marginalized sections of the population, in law and in fact, without discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds; and

• Information accessibility: accessibility includes the right to seek, receive and impart information concerning water issues.

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Right to Drinking Water (National Context)

Constitution of India does not recognize Right to water as Fundamental Right specifically but Supreme Court of India has interprets Right to water under Article 21 of the Constitution in numerous verdicts and says that…

“Right to access to drinking water is fundamental to life and there is a duty on the State under Article 21 to provide clean drinking water to its citizens.”

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A.P.Pollution Control Board II v. Prof. M. V. Nayudu 2000 Supp. (5) SCR 249.

Narmada Bachao Andolan v. Union of India AIR 2000 SC 3751

Atma Linga Reddy v. Union of India (2008) 7 SCC 788.

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National water policy, 2013

• National water policy 2013: It is the Union policy on water which keep the drinking water at top in the priority of water use but lacks the means to ensure it.

• National water policy also transformed water from social goods to economic goods and open the doors for the privatization of water under the name of Public-Private Partnership.

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Drinking water supply in urban areas

74th Constitutional amendments listed the responsibilities of Municipals under the article 243W(ii) which includes “Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes.”

Traditionally water supply Is listed as an obligatory

function in the most Municipal laws. However, different states have their own instrument for the water supply like Maharashtra Water Supply and Sewerage Board to meet the huge water demands in the increasing city.

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Maharashtra State Water Laws

• The Maharashtra Water Supply and Sewerage Board: Constituted on the 1st January, 1997 under the Maharashtra Water Supply and Sewerage Board Act, 1976 for rapid development and proper regulation of Water Supply and Sewerage service in the State of Maharashtra. The name of the Board was changed as Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran with effect from 10-3-1997. The primary objective of the Pradhikaran is to promote potable Water Supply and satisfactory sanitation facilities so as to achieve and maintain clean environment

• Maharashtra State water policy: Maharashtra State is first stated to enact water policy. It also keep the provision of drinking water at the top but do not specify to ensure it.

• Maharashtra State Water Resource Regulatory Authority (MWWRA): Maharashtra is first state to enact a this Act for the rationalization of water uses and develop a mechanism to regulate the allocation, management and utilisation of the state's limited water resources

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Mumbai’s water supply

The Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888; Section 61(b) says that

Hence, It is the obligatory duty of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) to supply drinking water within its periphery

“The construction and maintenance of work and

means for providing a supply of water for public

and private purposes.”

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Mumbai’s water

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An Introduction

• Mumbai depends almost entirely on surface water reservoirs. • Mumbai water system is established in 1845 to supply water

to few thousand population and now it is crore + city. • Mumbai brings it water from the over 100 km away tribal

areas through the massive pipes. • Water is supplied from the reservoir to the consumer through

the force of gravity. • Mumbai get 3720 mld water from its different sources. • Mumbai supplies 3350 mld water every day. • Mumbai has water purification pant in Bhandup and

Panjarapur with capacity of 1910mld and 1365 mld respectively.

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Cont…

• There are 23 service reservoirs in Mumbai situated mostly on the hills to store the purified water and from here water is supplied to the end users.

• Currently the MCGM earns about Rs. 4.5 billion (450 crores) a year through water charges and levies.

• The cost of water purification and transpiration till the end user is Rs. 24 per 10,000 litres.

• MCGM has a network of 400 km of transmission main and 2325 km of distribution mains.

• 650 valves of different diameter are operated every day for the water supply in the city.

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Mumbai’s Water: Source

Sl No. Project Duration Source Capacity (mld) 1. Vihar 1860-1872 Mithi River 110 2. Tulsi 1872-1879 Mithi River 18 3. Tansa 1892-1948 Tansa River 487 4. Vaitrna 1948-1957 Vaitrna River 455 5. Uppar Vaitrna 1966-1973 Vaitrna River 635 6. Bhatsa Stage-1 1967-1989 Bhatsai River 455 7. Bhatsa Stage-2 1981-1989 Bhatsai River 455 8. Bhatsa Stage-3 1989-1996 Bhatsai River 455 9. Bhatsa Stage-3A 1996-2007 Bhatsai River 350 10. Bhatsa Stage-3B 2007-2008 Bhatsai River 300

Total 3,720 million ltr per day

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Huge pipes carrying water

towards Mumbai

Mumbai is the only Municipal Corporation is only local Government

which owns water reservoirs (Dam)

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Water Supply in Mumbai Year Population Demand Supply 1951 3082 1200 1093 1961 4153 1610 1093 1971 5872 2275 1728 1981 8242 2800 2983 1991 9897 3306 2638 2001 11978 3856 3200

Mumbai’s Water: Issues Availability

• MCGM can provide 130 lpcd drinking water as per current available water (3350 ml) and population(20.5 million) if water distribution take place on the principle of equality. (considering the 20% leakage)

• Availability of water is not an issue the issue lies in the unequal water distribution and efficient water management in which MCGM was pioneer once but efficiency reduced purposefully in an order to make the water department a candidate for the privatisation.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues

• Discrimination in water distribution – Mumbai’s Water distribution is highly discriminatory in

legislation and practical. – MCGM’s water charges rule set 150lpcd water to people

living in buildings and only 45 lpcd water to the people living in slum.

– A study conducted by YUVA in December, 2009 shows that shows that 60% slum dwellers get less than 30lpcd.

– Shopping malls have got water connection on humanitarian ground and over 20 lakh population is denied water by MCGM.

– Huge amount of water bills are pending with the Government Department like Railway, MHADA, Police and Private companies.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues Quality

In a study conducted by YUVA, 67% respondents in the communities complained about huge contamination of water.

Contamination includes turbidity, worms and stinking water which is unsafe to drink. At some places people reported that contaminated water comes from the tap for the initial 10 to 15 minutes and later clean water comes. So the people let flow the contaminated water which results huge water loss.

However, the contamination is due to the leakage in the water supply pipes which passes through the gutters.

Water purification plant at Bhandup purifies the water up to the world class standard.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues Accessibility

Access to water, traditionally metaphor of power in India. Upper caste Hindus denied the access to water sources to the

untouchables under their control and Dr. Ambedkar had to organized movement against it.

• Denial of water to non-notified settlement: In the new form of denial over 20 lakh poor people living in non-notified settlements (came into existence after 1st Jan 1995) are denied drinking water officially by Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) under the direction of Urban Development Department (UDD) of Government of Maharashtra (GoM). The denial of drinking water causing following ailment to the urban poor.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues

Impact of denial of water…. – People get water from illegal and unsafe sources like hand pump, well,

private tanker.

– Women and children suffer the most because the responsibility of water collection rest upon them.

– Water sources are not in proximity and some have to walk more than one Kilometer to get the water.

– Water Mafia developed with the nexus of the local politician, BMC bureaucrats, police and plumbers which sell the water at 200% higher price to the people and controls the very social dynamics.

– livelihood of the family comes under the risk zone due to uncertainty of availability of drinking water because they have to remain absent from to work for water to meet the family needs.

– Women and children risk their life while bringing water crossing busy highways and railway tracks.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues

Impact of denial of water….

– Use of unsafe water endanger the health of the family and specifically children suffer from water born diseases like diarrhea, cholera, maleria etc. they also suffer from the skin disease.

– Children drop the school or report late regularly because they spend great chunk time in water collection specifically girls child.

– Family’s and specifically women’s become more vulnerable to health risk due to lack of water to maintain proper health and hygiene.

– Women’s health suffer great extent because they reported miscarriage and back pain due to carrying water load over head for long distance every day.

– Sense of insecurity developed among the women and children because anti social elements harass sexually women while collection water from the long distance. Complaining against those may close one more points of water access and insecurity also include the accessibility of water too.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues

Accessibility • Tap people ratio: water is supplied in the communities

through public taps (stand post connection). Higher number of people depending one causes less access time to tap resulting in low availability of water. Over 20% respondents said that over 40 families depend on one public tap for drinking water.

• Short Duration: If water is supplied for an hour than each family will access the public tap for 6 minutes provided that public tap is shared by 10 families and most of the place in Mumbai water come for one and half hours or an hours.

• Long distance: Public taps are installed at the public space not in the houses so each family access the water from the out side in the proximity of 100 to 500 meters. Frequent to and fro from the tap to house forced the water collectors to walk over a kilometer generally.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues

Accessibility

• Low pressure: Water is supplies through the force of gravity hence higher places water does not reach so the people use electric pump to suck the water or carry water from the lower base to the higher point over head.

• Irregular Timing: In some communities timing of water supply is very irregular or inconvenient to the people. Water comes in the night between 11:00 pm to 05:00 am causing sleeplessness for the water collectors generally women. In some communities water during working hours which causes difficulties for the working women. This problem turns severe in the nuclear working family which is very common in urban settlement like Mumbai.

• Higher Prices: BMC supplies water at the affordable prices i.e.Rs.2.50 for the community people but the indirect prices goes high in terms of electric pump, electric bill, plumber expenditure etc.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues Governance of water supply department

Water Department of the MCGM was once a pioneer in water supply but deteriorated in the previous two decades due to following reasons…

• Understaffed: The department is 30% understaffed. In the previous decade new recruitment did not take place as per the requirement.

• Defunct leak detection cell: Earlier the full strength leak detection cell was active to take preventive measure to stop the water leakage. Now leak detection cell has become practically defunct due to non-recruitment.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues Governance of water supply department

– Volatile leadership: Mumbai’s water supply system is complex one and require stable leadership to lead the department but the post of chief hydraulic engineer either remain vacant or some executive works for short term like 6 months and than retires.

– Over Contractualism: The department’s own, strength of over 100 yeas experience in the filed of drinking water supply is thwarted due to over contractualization. Now the department depends entirely on the contractors for the execution of any work with low monitoring and evolution mechanism.

– Mismanagement: Department is

– Weak grievance redressal mechanism: Grievance redressal mechanism is very weak. No one pays heed to the complains logged by the users.

– Lack of proper mechanism to generate data for qualitative managememt. MCGM invest huge through contractors but don’t know how much water it saved by parching leaks.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues

unaccounted water (Leakage) Unaccounted water is in route water loss through leakage.

The amount of unaccounted water is the great concern for the department. International standard is 15% and MCGM claim for 25% but there is an conservative estimate of 30-40% water loss suffered by MCGM. Hence, 1005 million liter water MCGM lose each day.

Apart from that leakage in the pipes leads to contamination of water causing numerous health hazards.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues

Sideling the traditional local water resources

local water sources like rivers, lakes, wells etc in the area of MCGM, are never got due attention. So there condition is deteriorated over a period of time. They are encroached, polluted and remain unmanaged. Causing more dependency over external source of water.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues Riparian conflict

MCGM brings it water through huge pipes from the tribal belt of Thane dist. which is over 120 km away. In the way it denies the rights of drinking, irrigation and other rights of the locals over their water. Which generates massive dissatisfaction among the local people resulting in conflicts which lead to interruption of water supply to the city.

“MCGM supplies raw water to tribal villages at higher prices

than Mumbai” so there is a struggle against MCGM’s exploitation.

Hence, the sustainable model is to recognize and practice

the riparian use of water.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues

Lack of political will

Lack of political will to bring change is big matter. Under the neo-liberal policy water is being opened up as a commodity for the sale and purchase. So the politicions looking at the privatiosation as easy way out of the problem but the fact it will further intensify the problems.

Water privatization have nowhere satisfied the need of the people. Profit oriented water management marginalised the humanitarian need of the water.

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Mumbai’s Water: Issues

Taking supply side approach

MCGM is obsessed with to meet the ever increasing need of the city. Somewhere city have to be responsible towards the water use and efforts need to be taken for the demand side management too. Responsible city means that city will generate it rejuvenate own water resources and take the measure for recycling and at the top of all use the water in more sensible way and will cap the luxury use of water.

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Lack of water conservation measures

• MCGM suffered the water loss of 14.8 mcm at Tansa lake in 1991. Same is the case with other reservoirs where huge water get evaporated every year.

• There is insufficient measures is being taken to recycle and reuse the industrial and domestic effluents. Recycled water can be used for the usages like gardening, washing railway rakes and other usages where lesser quality water can be used.

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Mumbai’s water: Myths

There are various misinformation and biased attitudes spread about Mumai’s water. These are spread to veil the facts and create atmosphere conducive for the pushing the agenda of PPP. Some of which are followings:

Community people steal the water or slum people break the pipe

How shame to the government that denied drinking water to the people. So what are the

options people are left out? Right to water is human right so provide the drinking water.

Poor doesn’t pay the water bill No base to this statement. We have filed RTI to very this. You will be surprise to know that

government Departments, Railways, High Court, MHADA, private companies, builders, shopping malls etc are the biggest defaulters and not the poor slum dwellers.

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Mumbai’s water: Myths

People living in slums consume more water

They don’t have water from where they will consume. MCGM provides all ready less water to slum dwellers i.e.45lpcd to slum dwellers and 150 lpcd in the buildings. Slum dwellers do not use shower, basin, bathing tub and other water intensive measure in their practices. How do they consume more water.

Increasing population is the problem in the city

Population growth in urban center is the national phenomena not only in Mumbai. Mumbai have got all the resources to provide water to all the people. Mumbai itself use other water and ready to provide water to the poor people.

Water department is in financial crisis

One of the richest Municipal Corporation is Mumbai. Water Department is having over Rs.4000 crore reserve unutilized. So there is no question of financial crisis.

Water Department is inefficient Water department was not inefficient. It was made inefficient in the interest of privatization.

How a pioneer institution having over 100 year experience in water supply can all of a sudden become inefficient.

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Mumbai’s water: Myths

There is no water

Biggest lie. There is no water for the poor. MCGM can provide water to water intensive industries and increasing towers but there is no water for the poor. as MCGM’s white paper on water distribution 130 lpcd water is available if distributed equally.

Desalination of see water is answer of water woe It is much propagated solution of water woes in Mumbai. This will provide more

water but will not reach to the poor because this initiative very costly which only rich can afford.

Privatization can solve the problem.

Privatisation of water is never been a solution in the world how it can be in India. Very basic water is social goods not commodity. Private companies water sector increase cost many time to increase their profit and water goes out to reach of the people resulting in consumption of low quality of water.

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Recommondations

• Access to adequate clean and safe water for all • Place the right to water in the fundamental right of

the constitution • Community participation in the water management. • Recognize the riparian use of water to avoid the

conflict. • Rejuvenate traditional water management system. • Implement Chitle committee recommendations.

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Water is life,

Not for sale!!!

Thanks!!!

Pani Haq Samiti