Urban water supply and sanitation: reforms needed

Urban water supply and sanitation is a state subject under the constitution of India (entries 6 and 17 of List II). The 74th amendment to the constitution provided for the establishment of municipalities, following which state governments were able to delegate some of their responsibilities and functions, including those in relation to water supply and sanitation (WSS) services, to local municipalities.

Institutional arrangements for the provision of WSS services vary from state to state. But broadly speaking three structures have developed over time: municipal corporations or municipal councils; semi-autonomous state water supply and sanitation boards; and public health engineering departments, which for the purposes of this article, are collectively referred to as urban local bodies (ULBs).

However, most urban centres in India suffer from chronic inadequacy and inequality of WSS services. This is despite the per capita availability of water in cities like New Delhi exceeding that of Paris as detailed in the government’s 11th five year plan (2007-2012). Further, most service providers have low revenue realizations and often suffer from opaque decision making processes, poor utilization of resources, high fiscal budgetary dependence, a lack of accountability and non-responsiveness to consumer needs.

Saurabh Bhasin is a counsel at Trilegal and Pia Singh is an associate. Trilegal is a full-service law firm with offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.