Improving Public Water Utilities _case Study Bangalore2006

Improving the performance of Public Water Utilities – A case study of Bangalore N.C. MUNIYAPPA, Chairman, BWSSB 1.

Introduction: Bangalore the garden city and the IT capital of India is situated on the watershed of two-principle river basins the Arkavathy to the West and South Pennar to the East. The general elevation of the city above sea level varies between 900-940 mtrs.

The local

topography is characterized by a series of well defined valleys, which radiate from a ridge of high ground to the North of the city and fall in a gradual manner towards a wide belt of flat land extending beyond the limits of Metropolitan area to the South. The configuration of the valleys and well graded side slopes of their tributary areas have provided Bangalore with a natural system of drainage flow by gravity beyond the city. Unlike many other cities, Bangalore is not blessed with a perennial river and this could be the reason for construction of many lakes across seasonal streams. With the rapid urbanization of the city many of these lakes have been destroyed and converted into residential localities. These lakes, which were once acting as source of ground water recharge, have diminished. Consequently, the ground water table is depleting rapidly. 2.

Overview of BWSSB The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board a statutory authority created by the GOK is responsible for providing water supply and sewerage, sewage treatment and disposal within the Bangalore Metropolitan Area. The Board was established in the year 1964 and since then Board has executed several water

supply augmentation schemes to meet the ever-growing water demand from time to time to quench the thirst of Bangalore citizens. At present, the Board is supplying potable water to 6 Million people from a distance of 100 Kms., against an head of 540 mtrs., with an average daily supply of 900 to 950 MLD.

All the

connections have been metered and revenue collected based on the regular meter readings. 95%.

Several

customer

The revenue realization is around

friendly

initiatives

have

also

been

introduced. However the city is facing the key issues of maintaining a sustainable self-financing service, to provide equitable access of safe water to all sections of society and to reduce non-revenue water

to

a

reasonable

level

that

will

allow

meeting

the

sustainability criteria. Historical Data Particulars

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Population served (in millions)

5.545

5.72

5.90

6.09

6.280

No. of connections

307416

322448

334805

425000

477000

2851

2750

2700

2611

2500

250

270

300

330

330

247381

260036

274876

317752

360738

No. of staff Service Area Water Production (Million Litre)

Cauvery and Arkavathy

Sources of water Water availability in hours

4

6

6

5

5

Average tariff (1KL) Rs.6.36 for Domestic users (Rs.7 to Rs.40 including Sewerage charges. Rs.60 for Non-Domestic users (Rs.40 to Rs.60 including Sewerage charges. Particulars

2001-02

2002-03

2003-04

2004-05

2005-06

Annual revenue

2677.50

3687.00

4301.00

4172.90

4709.00

Annual Budget

3143.50

3916.50

4347.00

4028.50

42147

1968.0

2312.40

2686.50

2876.80

29008

33.6

36.7

38.94

34.10

41.33

Annual Cost

O

&

M

UFW

Sewerage System of Bangalore The local topography is characterized by a series of well defined valleys, which radiate from a ridge of High Ground to North of the city and falls in a gradual manner towards wide belt of flat land extending beyond the limits Metropolitan area to the South. The principle valleys are known as Vrishabhavathi, Koramangala and Challaghatta and they run generally in North to South direction and divide grater part of Metropolitan area, which lies to the south of the ridge into 3 separate and distinct drainage zones. A fourth valley system referred to as Hebbal series forms drainage zones North of ridge and runs in north easterly direction.

5 Minor

valleys namely, Kathriguppa and Tavarekere to the South, Arkavathy

and

Kethamaranahali

to

the

North-west

and

Marathahalli to the East lies outside the tributary area of major valleys and they drain independently to the fringe area which forms reminder of Metropolitan area.

The configuration of valleys with well-graded side slopes of their tributary areas has provided Bangalore with a natural drainage without recourse to much pumping.

Both sewage and storm

water flow by gravity beyond the city. The system of sewers for conveyance of wastewater through underground drainage system was introduced in the year 1922, which was initially confined to thickly populated core area of the city and although gradual extension took place then onwards, it was not until 1950 a major programme of sewerage construction was commenced. With the formation of the Board, the programme to provide sewerage system in the un-sewered areas were taken up in a phased manner and the treatment of sewage before it is led into natural valleys was also tackled. At present Bangalore has a welldesigned and regularly maintained UGD system and 14 No. of STP’s and 2 No.s of recycling plants of total capacity of 718 MLD and 70 MLD respectively. 3.

Future developments plans and their linkage to population growth The population of the city as at the end of 2005 is approximately 6.28 Millions and the demand for potable water is in the order of 1153 MLD in a service area of 330 Sq. Kms. However, the present supply is about 900 MLD with a per-capita supply of 90-100 litres. The gap / short fall is about 253 MLD and therefore the supplies are being made every alternate day for a period of 6-8 hours depending upon the service area and topography. The UFW / NRW is in the order of 40-45% thereby affecting the self sustainability of the utility. The population of the city by the year 2011 has been projected to be around 7.34 Million, which includes the population coming

under the jurisdiction of 7 City Municipal Council and 1 Town Municipal Council located on the peripheral areas of the existing Bangalore Mahanagara Palika jurisdiction.

The service area is

expected to cover 598 Sq. Kms. As against the present average supply of 900 MLD, the water demand by the year 2011 would be in the order of 1576 MLD. To bridge the gap between the demand and the supply, BWSSB is on the process of implementing Cauvery Stage IV Phase II to augment 500 MLD of potable water at an estimated cost of Rs.17590 Millions. The sewerage component consists of 11 STP’s 8 ISPS and laying of 90 Kms., of trunk sewers at an estimated cost

of

Rs.8320

components

of

Millions.

The

management

project

also

improvement,

consists,

the

distribution

improvement etc., and the entire project is being funded by JBIC, Japan.

The water component of the project is programmed for

commissioning by the year 2011 and the sewerage components by the year April 2012. With the objective of providing water supply facilities to the 7 CMC’s and 1 TMC located around periphery of Bangalore city, greater Bangalore water supply project is taken up at a cost of Rs.4100 Millions.

The works are already in progress and the

same is programmed for completion by the end of December 2006. The UGD / sanitation component along with miscellaneous works like road restoration etc., have been estimated to cost Rs.3920 Millions and the same is being funded by World Bank under Karnataka Municipal Reforms programme. The work is expected to commence by January 2007 and completed by the end of December 2009.

Rapid urbanization of the city has lead in to vertical growth putting more stress on the adequacy of the existing water supply and sewerage infrastructure assets requiring either replacement with enhanced diameter or rehabilitating the existing ones.

As

part of environmental action plan, replacement / rehabilitation of main sewers, action has been taken to replace / enhance the main sewers within the core area for a length of about 22 Kms., at a cost of Rs.463 Millions.

Further it is programmed to replace /

enhance / rehabilitate main sewers for a length of about 100 Kms., at a cost of Rs.1950 Millions for which the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is under preparation. Some of the assets created have served their useful life and the same needs to be replaced / rectified wherever necessary in a phased manner. As part of the same some distressed ground level reservoirs

within

the

water

supply

distribution

system,

replacement of corroded lines have been taken up and rest are programmed for rehabilitation/replacement in a phased manner. 4.

Institutional and policy reforms introduced in the utility and their impacts on the utilities performance With a view to ascertain the quality and quantity of assets being maintained

by

the

Board,

a

comprehensive

geographical

Information System (GIS) for the first time in the country was commissioned in the year 2002 duly computerizing/ digitizing the entire data of the assets and the same is being upgraded periodically. This is helping the utility as a management tool for managing the entire water supply and sewerage system, condition of the assets, their age etc., to facilitate suitable decisions.

With a view to conserve precious potable water i.e. presently being supplied to various industries and non potable consumers, two wastewater recycling plants are established and recycled water is being supplied to industries and other non potable users located within the radius of 4-5 Kms. With a view to assess the UFW and reduce non re venue water a pilot project is taken up in the Central core area of the city covering 33000 connections and 362 Kms., of pipeline of various diameter ranging from 80mm to 600mm at a cost of Rs.480 Million.

The studies have been made by creating 21 District

Metering Areas which have revealed unknown leakages, unknown lines

and

links

and

valves,

encrusted

pipelines,

defective

connections and meters, corroded house service connections etc.. This pilot project has accrued the benefit of control over distribution losses, reliability in supply, increase in system pressure, no possibility of water contamination, improvement in water quality and increase in water revenue. With a view to improve the capacity for the Delivery of water, Sewerage and Environmental Sanitation Services to Bangalore, with an emphasis on the Urban poor and vulnerable groups with a process of long term Environmental, Economic, Social and Institutional sustainability, preparation of a Master Plan with project horizon was taken up with the assistance of AusAID at a cost of Rs.192 Millions. The project was completed in July 2002. The major outcomes from the Master Plan studies include (i) Planning for water supply, sewerage and environmental sanitation (ii) Service upgrading and extension for the urban poor and vulnerable poor communities (iii) Institutional capacity building

and strengthening (iv) Water supply and sewerage service pilot studies. The Master plan studies helped in ascertaining the status of existing infrastructure, condition of assets and its timing of replacements, investments required, availability of raw water resources to bridge the gap between demand and supply of potable water of the growing population etc.

Under the

Institutional Capacity building and strengthening component of the project 78 workshops / conferences under different themes and 4 institutional workshops and 5 studies tours were organized in which 1295 male and 394 female participants took part in a duration of 159 days covering a total training of 2546 days. This gave exposure to the staff in the various fields and a better understanding

of

the

latest

technologies

available

for

implementation. Under the water supply and sewerage pilot study component services to the urban poor in 4 identified slums were taken up wherein group water and sanitation connections were provided for better living standards in the slums.

About 5928

populations, which included 2963 male 2965 female, were the direct beneficiaries. These pilot projects demonstrated alternative and affordable service options, if replicated could benefit residents in about 130 un-serviced slums settlements in the city.

The

surveys have indicated that people are willing and able to pay for improved sanitation and water supply services if initial connection charges are rationalized and made more affordable and if procedural barriers imposed by tenure and property taxation norms are simplified. Based on these learning’s, providing better water supply and sanitation facilities in a phased manner have been taken up in various slum settlements.

Many transparent measures as customer friendly initiatives have been introduced for the benefit of the customers during the past 3-4 years. The procedure for sanction of water supply and UGD connections has been simplified. A Customer charter is launched. An informative website is in position.

Monthly water Adalat is

working effectively to settle billing disputes, long pending cases etc.

24 x 7 multi utility fully automated bill payment Kiosk

(KaverE-com) have been established all over the city to facilitate payment of bills. Web enabled online payment facility is also in operation. With a view to improve the efficiency and to reduce recurring cost private sector has been involved through service contracts towards O & M of water treatment plants, Sewage treatment plants, Pump houses, Chlorinators, leak repairs, repairs to water meters etc. 5.

Key areas needing strength and capacities Though the AusAID Master plan studies had a component on Institutional capacity building, the exposure of the various staff to the modern techniques of management, advanced technologies etc., was inadequate. Only very few staff got repeated exposures, which they are not able to continue to practice and implement the same in their day to day activities. Board has been approaching various consulting agencies for additional technical assistance wherever called for in managing its activities. Board (utility) being a statutory authority of GOK, however cannot completely follow the management skills of a private sector utility because of inherent difficulties associated in bringing such changes. There is a need for institutional capacity building by identifying suitable staff to be trained in a particular area of interest and allow them

to work in their area of expertise to the best advantage of the utility. The burning issue affecting the self-sustainability of utility is the enormous amount of UFW / NRW, which is putting very much stress on the financial capability of the utility. There is an urgent need for training the staff associated in operation and maintenance of the distribution network on the ways and means of reducing UFW / NRW levels by creating suitable district metering areas and fixing the jurisdictional maintenance areas according to DMA’s. Privatize the meter reading, billing etc., and provide incentives for improvement in demand and collection of water revenue. 6.

Summery of standards being applied to manage water quality to meet the basic requirements The water that is being supplied to the citizens of Bangalore is treated to the quality stipulated under WHO standards.

The

treated water is since being pumped for a length of about 100 Kms., The availability of residual chlorine at the receiving end of the city reservoirs would be less and hence chlorine is injected at identified city reservoirs before being distributed. Generally, the water quality is good at the consumer end except in case of some old areas where the quality of pipelines have deteriorated and in some poor settlements in slums due to prevailing unhygienic conditions. However, the Board is checking the water quality at various distribution points regularly and testing for its potablity. Wherever the quality is affected, the source of contamination would be traced and rectified by way of cleaning the pipeline through scouring, attending to leakages, disinfecting the pipeline etc.

On an average 1500-1600 Nos., of samples are collected

monthly from the service areas collected and tested every month both at the Central Water Testing Laboratory (CWTL) and mobile

testing laboratory. About 2 to 3% of the samples are found to be not suitable for potable purposes under bacteriological test.

The

parameter

te st

tested

at

the

CWTL

include

bacteriological

Turbidity, pH value, Electric conduction, Nitrate, Iron and Residual chlorine etc. 7.

An overview of water management implemented and their impact

measures

being

The population as at the end of 2005 is 6.28 million and the demand for water is about 1153 MLD, whereas the present supply is only 900 MLD living a deficit of 253 MLD as on date. The per capita supply is about 90-100 LPCD.

To manage the water

demand water is being supplied on alternate days and wherever feasible use of recycled water for non-potable uses is being promoted to conserve the potable water presently being supplied to industries and non-potable consumers. Further extensive UFW studies are being carried out within a pilot area to identify NRW and sustain the same at reasonable levels. Consumers are being discouraged using more water and wasting the same for non potable uses by way of increasing the water tariff at the lowest slabs as well as higher slabs in the domestic sector also. 8.

Strategies to generate resources to meet the financing gap 60% of the Board revenue is spent towards power charges alone for pumping the treated water from source to the city as well as the distribution network and treatment of wastewater generated in the city. The Board is managing finances to meet the regular O & M cost, administrative charges etc., from the revenue generated. However, it is not in a position to repay the loans availed for implementing various schemes or finance capital works.

The

wastewater generated in the city is presently going as a waste,

which the Board cannot afford to go waste and as a first step in this direction 2 recycling plants have been setup and sale of recycled water is being promoted for industrial and non potable uses to generate additional revenue. 9.

Nature and extent of private sector participation Since a decade, the Board has made attempts with various PSP operators in exploring various strategies to attract PSP, which would lead to improvement in efficiency.

However, the efforts

made on entrusting pilot areas of the city on a Delegated Management Contract for a 5-year period with the objective of Water Audit and reduction of UFW did not materialize. The efforts made towards augmentation of treated water from river Cauvery under BOOT also did not materialize. As of now. PSP is limited to service contracts. The private sector is involved in O & M of water treatment plants, wastewater treatment plants, pump houses, attending leaks, maintenance of GIS etc. 10.

Nature of partnership and other utilities BWSSB is a role model for other water utilities in India to emulate some of the innovative measures initiated and its success stories. Several Indian water utilities are regularly visiting BWSSB and are holding interactions and exchanging their expe riences for mutual benefits of both the utilities.

Key recommendations •

Creating public awareness in economic use of water with improved flushing techniques.

•

Adoption of rainwater harvesting methods of new constructions.

•

Introduction of dual water supply system in new multistoried buildings by reuse of wastewater

•

Reduction of non-revenue water by upgradation of systems by continuous proactive maintenance.

•

Restoration of Lakes

•

To provide individual connections to all urban poor, specifically in slums.