From Sabyasachi Das, Sahjeevan, Bhuj, Gujarat

Posted 2 February 2009

I am Sabyasachi Das working in Sahjeevan, a voluntary organization working on conservation and natural resource management in Kutch district of Gujarat. Sahjeevan also works with communities on decentralised drinking water systems.

We are working on a decentralized drinking water system managed by Pani Samitis (Water Committees) in the Abdasa taluka of Kutch District. We have developed local water sources in several villages in the district over 15 years by promoting rainwater harvesting, building/rehabilitating recharging structures, catchment treatment, and drinking water wells, after studying the local hydrogeology.

After the Bhuj earthquake, Water and Sanitation Management Organization (WASMO) developed drinking water distribution networks in the affected villages of the Kutch district including storage tanks, stand posts, pipelines etc. The understanding was that Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board (GWSSB) would provide water to a central point in the village or Narmada water would reach the villages. GWSSB charges a highly subsidised Rs. 14 per head per year to supply water to villages. GWSSB and WASMO agreed to support the hardware components of the programme, which focus on restoring/developing local drinking water sources such as ponds, tanks and wells.

We feel most villages can be self-sufficient in water if they revive these sources, while external sources can be used in emergencies or during drought. We also feel communities should pay for water from local sources, and that this should be lower than the cost from an external source to incentivise the community’s management and protection of local water sources. However, these individual user charges have not been calculated, even though many Pani Samitis have worked out the operational and maintenance costs for these sources.

In this background, we request Water Community members to provide information on the following:

• How can individual user charges for water from local sources be calculated, including the methodology for valuation of water, assuming a willingness to pay by the community? Please include definitions for water price, tax, tariff and valuation of water.
• Are there any specific examples or experiences of the economic impact of improved water supply at the community and household level?

Also, please share information on cases/experiences of villagers managing their own drinking water sources and having an established pricing mechanism.

We will use the information provided to develop a community-led management plan for Pani Samitis to run village drinking water systems, and protection of local sources.

Please see attachment below for the responses.