The ‘Day Zero’ stories from Cape Town and Chennai have taught us – if nothing else – that urban water crisis is real and imminent. In January 2018, the city of Cape Town in South Africa announced that it would completely run out of water in three months. Three years of continuous drought had brought water reservoir levels in and around the city to a record low. In the three months that followed, the city strengthened its water management to a point that they averted ‘Day Zero’ indefinitely. This year Chennai too faced a similar situation after experiencing a deficit of almost 40% rainfall. However, unlike Cape Town, Chennai eventually had taps running dry. What can Indian cities learn from the Cape Town experience to avoid a similar crisis and prioritise sustainable urban water management?

The Jal Shakti Abhiyan (targeting water conservation) recommends that cities increase their water reuse for industrial and agricultural purposes. Additionally, to conserve water, cities would need to fix and upgrade urban water supply, distributions and wastewater treatment systems currently riddled with inefficiencies. In most Indian cities, on an average, 39% of the water is lost before it reaches our homes. Old and crumbling distribution networks with leaks, water theft fed by growing inequity, lack of finance for operation and maintenance, lack of water pricing, etc. make matters worse for water utilities. To build water secure cities, India would first need to draw inspiration from good water governance and management practices that were set in place in Cape Town even before the water shortages began.

First, Cape Town has for a long time demanded great accountability from its water utilities. Accountability, is a primary tenet of good governance, and, in broader terms, of a democracy. In terms of access, Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation Department had successfully connected all formal households to a metered water connection with sufficient water flowing in – a discernible indicator of an accountable water utility. Further, in Cape Town, water utilities are responsible for poor performance in service delivery, and there are incentives for those with a good scorecard. Hence, it was hardly surprising that Cape Town leapt to action immediately in the face of crisis, given the accountability the utility held in the eyes of the administration, and consequently, the public.

Second, the city deployed innovations in water supply and demand management through technology and communications. Water management devices and stringent restrictions were deployed to limit water supply to households. The promise of free water of 6000 litres per month for households was removed for non-indigent households. In order to get consumers to value the water they use and promote judicious usage, water tariffs were raised significantly during the crisis. Innovative public communications including websites displaying dam water levels, advertisements highlighting tips on water savings, and a water map helping households check their consumption in real-time, also helped significantly to raise citizen awareness on coping with the crisis.

Jal Shakti Abhiyan

What urban India can learn from Cape Town’s water crisis