Water & Lucre

 

 

Even as the fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul was cataloguing the endless virtues of “blue gold” – and activists outside the forum’s venue were protesting against water’s privatisation – crucial files were shuttling between Hubli-Dharwad, Gulbarga, the Belgaum Corporation and the Karnataka government. The water babus were all set to privatise the elixir of life in the three cities – a move that is being officially hailed as a major initiative. But mind, only officially! Privately, most concede that the distribution of this increasingly scarce commodity must remain strictly in the public domain. Only, the state government, determined to implement the World Bank-aided project, had already shortlisted 12 of 36 consultancy firms that had shown interest. The firm that gets the nod of the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development & Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) will be involved in every aspect of the Rs.735 crore-PPP (private-public participation) project. The private company will bear 50 per cent of the cost, the state government 40 per cent (from the World Bank loan amount) and the local body 10 per cent. Says Urban Development Minister Suresh Kumar, “The private firm will build, operate and maintain the project, and the government will fix the tariff. There will also be a regulatory authority to monitor it.”

The enlightened view, however, is that water’s privatisation will spell chaos. “How can a private organisation be expected to forgo profit and take social responsibility?” asks veteran journalist and Hubli resident M. Madan Mohan. The minister was obviously uninformed of the Chochabamba experience. In 2000 the Bolivian government had handed over its water supply system to a subsidiary of the corporate giant, Bechtel Corporation, Agus del Tunari. That one too was a World Bank-initiated mega project and the contract period was 40 years. Soon after Agus del Tunari took control water rates shot up, sparking widespread protests and forcing the government to declare an emergency in Chochabamba city. In the end the Bolivian government had no choice but to terminate the contract. Privatisation attempts were also made in Vietnam, China and Malaysia on the BOT (build, operate & transfer) model, but all had to be abandoned. Four years back even New Delhi had toyed with water privatisation. A French company, Ondeo Degremont, was tasked with designing, building and operating the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant. But the Rs 200-crore project was shelved following strong public protests. The trouble is that governments too have failed in meeting demand. In Delhi the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which is responsible for providing water to its 1.6 crore population, has never managed to supply the 1150 MGD (million gallons daily) that the city needs. The DJB has a capacity to supply only 690 MGD, and 100 MGD comes from tube wells – leaving the capital short of 360 MGD. And things are bound to get worse as the population grows. Current projections are that Delhi will require 1380 MGD of water by 2020.

Swadeshi Jagaran Manch state general secretary Kuljit Singh Chahal was among those who had strongly protested the capital’s water privatisation move. As he rightly says, the distribution of a natural resource like water must stay in government hands. Recently a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and H. L. Dattu had directed the Central government to form an experts panel to suggest ways of tackling the growing water menace. Most of them feel that only a community-based participatory approach can deliver; and they suggest alternate models like water harvesting, integrated river management and advise healthy agricultural practices. It is owing to their lack that 22.5 crore Indians are still denied safe drinking water.

While the overall demand – domestic, agricultural and industrial – is 900 billion cubic meters, it is hard to get even 500 billion cubic meters of water in the country. States like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan and parts of Maharashtra are under severe water stress. There are also serious concerns about water quality. Recall what happened in Bholakpur, Hyderabad? On May 6 seven people there had died and over 200 became sick after drinking the contaminated water supplied by the Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewage Board (HMWSSB). But the Managing Director of HMWSSB, G. Asok Kumar, put the blame on the consumers. Claimed Kumar, “Most of them use highly corrosive and substandard pipes, and take the shortest possible route to cut costs – even if it means drawing from pipes crisscrossing the sewage lines.” And so the blame game continues, with no one anywhere willing to own up responsibility.

For instance nobody tells us why Kerala – which has abundant water resources – needs to hire water tankers. In Kochi alone 150 privately-owned tankers make eight trips daily, in some cases supplying well water and, worse, even untreated river water.

Come to Uttar Pradesh, and the experience gets even more nightmarish. In all 151 development blocks in 16 districts face acute water crisis, and, what's more, both the surface and ground water are highly polluted. The state’s lifeline – the holy Ganges – remains one of the world’s most polluted rivers, despite Rs 1500 crore having been spent in the past 25 years to clean it up. And worryingly, of the 7,500 habitations in the state that are arsenic affected, only 2,698 have thus far been treated.

“Over 26 million people are at risk, and even Kolkata has entered the danger zone,” says Kalyan Rudra, river expert and member of the Ganga Monitoring Committee. According to the World Health Organisation more than 7,00,000 people die in India of water-related diseases every year. And their number increases every day.