| Author | Kumari, Madhumati |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.UE-04-12 |
| Subject(s) | Water-supply--Prices--India
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Masters of Science |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | In most of the cities of the developing world the water supply service is not meeting the
need of growing population. The water supply service is provisioned at highly subsidized
rate. The subsidy is, however, never enough to supply water to all residents. This has
ironically created a situation in which a large proportion of city residents left without
access to water and relatively well-off ones benefiting from the subsidy. In the recent
years, the global mood has been changed for water supply to adopt more business
approach. This has increased the significance of cost recovery. Cost recovery has so far
not been a well-established practice in provisioning water supply. The revenue generation
from the public water supply is not sufficient even to meet the operation and maintenance
cost of the system. PMC water supply service is also faced with this typical problem. With
this in view, the study was undertaken to contribute in improving cost recovery to raise
financial base for the betterment of water supply service in Patna city Bihar, India.
The present condition of water supply service of PMC such as current water pricing policy,
billing and revenue collection efficiency and amount of unbilled water or unaccounted for
water, and its challenges for cost recovery have been studied, based on primary and
secondary data gathered respectively from interviews and questionnaire survey of PMC
officials and households of Patna city and official documents, reports, and newspaper
articles, etc. Based on the analysis of these data, factors responsible for poor cost recovery
of PMC water supply service have been identified and analyzed in the current context to
recommend measures to improve the cost recovery for the betterment of the water supply
service in Patna.
The key findings of this study include that PMC water supply service covers about 62% of
the households in Patna city spread in 112 km2 with the help of 930 km of supply pipe
network and 85 pump stations which directly pumps about 398 million liter per day ground
water into the supply network to actually deliver about 192 million liter of water to the
households. About 530 km out of total 930 km of supply line is badly damaged and needs
urgent replacement. The supply water is slightly colored and smelly with trace of
suspension in many areas due to contamination from sewerage/drainage or mud through
leakage during supply, which causes water born diseases in about 17-20% of the people
yearly.
The water supply service of PMC has always been in deficit with current shortfall of Rs.
20 million. It can't recover even the operation and maintenance cost from water charge and
it has to depend on government aids and loans for its survival. The current water charge is
highly subsidized by government at Rs. 30/month/HH for a house with concrete roof on
principal main road, which is about one third of the cost based price of water. At present,
about 3 8.3% of total annual water billed is uncollected. Also, more than 50% of produced
water remains unbilled as unaccounted for water (UFW). Above facts show lack of
business approach and affect cost recovery of water supply service negatively.
The water price structure should be revised to accommodate production and supply
maintenance cost considering A&WTP in the range of Rs. 50 - 200 per month per
household in such a way that the average water charge should be more than Rs. 86 per
month per household and Rs. 1000 - 2000 for connection fee as per the result of A&WTP
study to meet social objectives. Households' WTP for connection fee should be increased
by disseminating information about the need of sustainable and quality water supply
service. The billing and collection efficiency can be improved by sending correct and
timely water bill per month separate from property tax and opening revenue collection
counter at local (ward) level. Lease out system can be an alternative for improving billing
and revenue collection efficiency. The UFW can be minimized by replacing obsolete
pipelines of 530 km, legalizing illegal connections and regular repair and maintenance of
water supply system. Also, installation of leak detection system and converting
nonmetered to metered supply to minimize the UFW should be considered by PMC as an
option if it is cost effective. To realize the above recommendations, PMC needs to be given
more autonomy to be more business-oriented organization in order to improve cost
recovery for the betterment of water supply service. |
| Year | 2004 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Urban Environmental and Management (UE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Amin, A. T. M. Nurul |
| Examination Committee(s) | Sajor, Edsel E. ;Thammarat Koottatep |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Government of Netherlands |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2004 |