Consultation on a

Report

New Delhi,
October 5, 2005
 Story line

1. The impetus for this Report

2. The process followed in preparing this
report
3. The substance of the Report
4. Next steps
A new Water Strategy approved by the Board
of the World Bank in 2003
 Summary of main messages
1. Water management and development are essential for
growth and poverty reduction
2. What is needed in developing countries is better
management AND more and better infrastructure at all
levels
3. On development – the Bank needs to be a reliable,
predictable partner in assisting countries develop and
maintain appropriate stocks of well-functioning
infrastructure
4. On management – the key challenge is “principled
pragmatism” –to define sequenced, prioritized and
practical steps for moving forward in putting principles
into practice.
5. The Bank has a comparative advantage in dealing with
these complex issues, and there is strong demand for Bank
engagement
6. The Bank’s water assistance will be tailored to country
circumstances and be consistent with the Country
Assistance Strategies which govern Government-Bank
partnerships.
 Over the past two years, a
series of major country water
resource studies ..
 Iraq
Azerbaijan
India
Pakistan
China
Honduras Ethiopia
Philippin
Mekong
Tanzania
Peru
Brazil
 The process followed in
preparing this report
• Extensive discussions with the Ministry of Water
Resources on the scope and method of the study
• In August 2004 we had a stakeholder consultation
with about 60 people from government, private
sector, NGOs, academics, aid partners...
 We worked with an eminent group of
experts who have did excellent
background papers on…

Experiences in, and plans for, development and management of

water resources in India
1. The evolution of national policies and programs (Mr. AD Mohile, former
Chair CWC)
2. The evolution of water development and management: the perspective of
the Planning Commission (Mr. A Sekhar, Adviser, Planning Commission)
3. The evolution and performance of World Bank work on water in India
(Dr. RPS Malik, Delhi University)
 The background papers (contd)
Deepening and making explicit the underpinnings, through
pieces of analysis on:
1. Water and growth (Prof Ramesh Bhatia, Inst Economic Growth)
2. Water and poverty (Dr RPS Malik, Delhi University)
3. Water and environmental sustainability (George Varughese, Development
Alternatives)
4. Water and energy (Prof Bhatia and Dr. Malik, Delhi University)
Focusing on a few critical cross-cutting instruments:
1. Pricing and financing (Prof Sebastian Morris, IIM Ahmedabad)
2. Water rights and entitlements (Dr. Maria Saleth, IWMI)
3. Accountable institutions (Dr. Tushaar Shah, IWMI)
4. Moving to scale (N. Mohanty, IFDC)
5. “Principled pragmatism” , or the political economy of change (Prof VS
Vyas, Inst of Development Studies, Jaipur)
• The main messages were discussed in detail in a major
two-day conference of the Union Government States
attended by the Ministers of Water Resources and
Minister of Finance on January 13 2005.

• The draft strategy was peer reviewed by about 20 Indian

experts and internally by the World Bank

• A close-to-final draft was sent to the DEA for the

comments of government 10 weeks ago....

• September 25 had a detailed discussion with Deputy Chair

and several members of the Planning Commission,
attended by officials from the Ministry of Water
Resources

• Written comments received (and incorporated) from the

Planning Commission
 The Story Line
1. Huge achievements in
water development and
management in the past
2. Current and looming
challenges
1. The era of large investment in water
infrastructure
2. The era of groundwater exploitation
 Investments in water
resources infrastructure
have broad, region-wide
economic impacts:
 Bhakra Dam

Irrigated 7 million hectares and provided 2800 mw of power

 For Nehru: For Arundhati Roy:
“The temples of modern India” “Dams spell disaster”
What was the economic impact of Bhakhra?
A major recent analysis by Bhatia and Malik
•The indirect benefits were as large as the direct power and irrigation
benefits
•Also were able to analyze the impact on different groups in the population

% change of Income of Different Types of Households With

and Without Bhakra Dam
80

60

40

20

0
Landowners Agr Labor Rural Non Agr Rural Others Urban

• Landless laborers benefited (proportionately) more that landowners…

• and this does not include the million seasonal workers who migrate from
Bihar to Punjab and Haryana each year….
Similar effects of irrigation and the green revolution on income
in Tamil Nadu

% increase 1973-
1983

150

100

50

0
Large farmers Small famers Non-irrigating Landless Non-ag
with irrigation with irrigation farmers households

Source: Hazell et al 1991

days of
employment
30

25

20

15

10

0
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

irrigated village
unirrigated village
Figure 7: Average number of days of employment for
adult casual laborers each month
Source: Chambers 1988.
 Similarly, if we look at districts
with and without irrigation in India…
 70
60
50
% of
population 40
below poverty
30
line
20
10
0
<10% 10% to 20% to 30% to > 50%
20% 30% 50%
% of cropped area which is irrigated

Figure 12: How irrigation reduces poverty in India

Source: Rao 1988, in World Bank 1991
Many ramifications….

Returns to five years of education in India:

¾32% in irrigated districts
¾0% in unirrigated districts
Those who provided water are therefore
regarded as saints
But....
 ...important to note that the poverty-
reducing impact of irrigation is declining….
How much the % who are poor is reduced when
there is a 1% increase in the proportion of cropped
area which is irrigated

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
1973-74 1977-78 1983 1987-88 1993-94 1999-00

Source: Analysis of 14 states by Dr. RPS Malik, 2005

 Canal Tanks Wells
m illio n h e c t a r e s ir r ig a te d

40.0

30.0

20.0

10.0

0.0
1950-51 1960-61 1970-71 1980-81 1984-85 1993-94 1999

Over the last two decades 84% of addition to

net irrigated area came from groundwater
1. The era of large investment in water
infrastructure
2. The era of groundwater exploitation
Figure 18: Level of groundwater development by basin
Source: Tyagi data – GIS work courtesy of IWMI
 2002-3

2003-04
1999-00

2000-01
Figure 19: Increase in electricity consumption for agriculture
Source: Tyagi and CEA
 Bihar
West Bengal
UP (Pow er corp.)
Maharashtra
Punjab
Tamil Nadu
Rajasthan (Transco.)
Karnataka
Andhra Pradesh
Gujarat
Haryana
Madhya Pradesh

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Figure 20: Electricity Subsidy to Agriculture as

Percent of Gross Fiscal Deficit 2000-01
Bhatia 2005
 30000
Constant Rs. Millions

25000
20000
15000

10000
5000
0
1

9
-8

-8

-8

-8

-8

-9

-9

-9

-9

-9
80

82

84

86

88

90

92

96

98
94
19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19
Fertilizer Electricity Canal Irrigation

Figure 21: Farm input subsidies in Gujarat

World Bank 2005

 % Overexploited
(extraction >100% of
recharge)
37
Critical
(extraction 90-100%)
10 Semi-critical
(extraction 70-90%)
27
Safe
(extraction <70%)
26

Figure 22:
The precarious state of groundwater in Tamil Nadu
Mitra 2005
 The Story Line
1. Huge achievements in
water development and
management in the past
2. Current and looming
challenges
1. adjusting to the needs of a changing India
2. adjusting to scarcity and greater variability
3. dealing with growing conflicts
4. maintaining and renewing existing infrastructure
5. building infrastructure in under-served areas and
for under-served public purposes
6. making the transition from development to
management and development...
7. revitalizing the machinery of government to deal
with the turbulent water future
8. charting a prioritized, sequenced, pragmatic path
for making improvements
Goswami 2005
– more than a third of rural households in India derive their
income from services or manufacturing - not from
farming.
– In the successful farming states of Punjab and Haryana
over half of all rural households have escaped agriculture
altogether
– "India's least poor households are found in states where
the highest proportion of households are not employed in
agriculture…The best way to escape poverty is to escape
agriculture."
This reduced dependency on agriculture is
of profound economic and social relevance
1980s 2005

Minister
of Finance
“Every
budget is
a gamble
on the
monsoon”
1. adjusting to the needs of a changing India
2. adjusting to scarcity and greater variability
3. dealing with growing conflicts
4. maintaining and renewing existing infrastructure
5. building infrastructure in under-served areas and
for under-served public purposes
6. making the transition from development to
management and development...
7. revitalizing the machinery of government to deal
with the turbulent water future
8. charting a prioritized, sequenced, pragmatic path
for making improvements
 Available Demand Utilizable
1400
cubic kilometers per annum

1200

1000

800

600

400

200
?
0
1997 2010 2025 2050

Figure 32:
Utilizable water, demand and residual which is available but not used

National Commission on Water, 1999

 600
Surface Groundwater
500
cubic kilometers per annum

400

300

200

100

0
?
1997 2010 2025 2050

Figure 33: “Unused” surface and groundwater

National Commission on Water, 1999
Figure 40: Running out of groundwater
Binay in the Business Standard
 Figure 34:
Simulated effects of deglaciation on Himalayan river flows
over ten decades
Gwyn Rees et al 2005
 Figure 35:
A2 emissions scenario
Change in South Asia summer rainfall predicted
by nine General Circulation Climate Models Ipcc
Figure 36: Predicted change in number of rainy days
from the “decreased rainfall” IPCC model
IPCC
Figure 37: Predicted change in rainfall intensity (in mm
per day) from the “decreased rainfall” IPCC model
IPCC
Figure 38: Area flooded has been relatively stable…
Tyagi
Figure 39: Areas subject to flooding are vulnerable to climate change

Tyagi
1. adjusting to the needs of a changing India
2. adjusting to scarcity and greater variability
3. dealing with growing conflicts
4. maintaining and renewing existing infrastructure
5. building infrastructure in under-served areas and
for under-served public purposes
6. making the transition from development to
management and development...
7. revitalizing the machinery of government to deal
with the turbulent water future
8. charting a prioritized, sequenced, pragmatic path
for making improvements
Minister of Water
Resources
Dasmunshi:
“I am not the
Minister of Water
Resources but the
Minister of Water
Conflicts”
At the national meeting to discuss the first outline
of this report....
 “Little” civil wars in India…

1. Between states
2. Between different users in a basin
3. Between communities and the State
4. Between farmers and the
environment
5. Between farmers and the city
6. Between farmers within command
areas….
 Little civil wars…between
states
– 90% of Indian territory is drained by inter-state
rivers
– The lack of clear, implemented inter-state allocation
rules has led to the endemic and growing conflicts
that Ministers Chidambaram and Dasmunshi have
recently talked about

Cauvery
conflict

And the Krishna, and Punjab/Haryana and ….

The uncertainty about exactly
what water each State has a
right to, imposes high costs…
States pay more attention to “laying a claim for
future awards” than they do to using what is
theirs effectively.
Real examples in India:
ON THE KRISHNA:
• Maharashtra has made huge investments in non-
productive dams so that it can lay claim to waters of
inter-state water in a future Tribunal award…
• Interest and equity payments by the State amount to
about 17% of the State fiscal deficit (2003/4)
• This has played a major role in the State fiscal crisis
ON THE CAUVERY:
• Tamil Nadu is not willing to invest in more efficient
water use because it is perceived that any
demonstration of efficiency will be held against it in a
future inter-state award
Etc…
 The lack of effective action is
widely deplored…
• The Secretary for Water Resources asks why, 60 years after the
passage of the River Boards Act, there is not a single functioning
River Basin Authority
• The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu describes the Cauvery River
Authority as “a toothless wonder” (Hindu, Aug 2003)
• Cartoonists depict interstate water policy in derogatory terms
“In the political minefield of river disputes, the
government … just watches, waits for God to bring
rain and temporary relief, or scurries about for a
new appeasement package. All in all, it makes a
farce of the issue staring it in the face: how the
country is to live and share its now-scarce water
resources. “
Sunita Narain August 2004
 Is there a better way?
• The Indus Water Treaty, with its very clear definition of
what water belongs to each country, is a relevant model.

Pakistan

Ind ia

• Both India and Pakistan have focussed (mostly) on

developing their assigned water resources, not on
hoping to get more “in the next round”….
• Other federal countries which face water scarcity have “definition,
specification and implementation of State water rights” at the heart of
their inter-state water management

• When California “needs” more water, it does two things:

– First it concentrates on getting the most it can out of the water which it
has
– Second, if it needs more water it has to negotiate with other Colorado River
riparian states, who will sell water if it is in their interest
• The Federal Government had two roles:
– First it brokered the Treaty (the Colorado Compact) between the States
– Then it adjusted all rights as it became evident that initial allocations were
too high
– Now it acts as the “river master”, ensuring that the 80 year-old state rights
are respected
 Growing number of countries with arid areas
have moved to formal water entitlements
• Chile, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, and
now starting in China...
 •1991 Water Accord allocates water among states
•Now Punjab moving to transparent allocation across canal commands

Recent very important commitments to making these public and

transparent ....
 There is evidence that similar incentive systems
could work politically in India, as evidenced in the
“Linking Rivers” discussions…

When there was a perception that water would be simply

taken from “surplus” states, there was an understandably
hostile reaction..
However, when it appeared possible that States’ rights would
be respected and there would be instruments for voluntary,
mutually-acceptable exchanges, the reaction was quite
different….
 “Little” civil wars in India…

1. Between states
2. Between different users in a basin
3. Between communities and the State
4. Between farmers and the
environment
5. Between farmers and the city
6. Between farmers within command
areas….
The Vaigai Basin in Tamil Nadu as
one of many Indian examples….
 Over time more
and more dams and
diversions
upstream…..
 Still continuing….

Sothuparai Reservoir
And pleasing those who are getting reliable water….
 But every time
Over time more
depriving someone
and more dams and
downstream of a
diversions
little more water…
upstream…..
 The water lawyer of the
Vaigai Basin

A farmer in the
lower Vaigai who
has been
petitioning at all
levels for
restoration of his
water rights for
forty years…
 “Little” civil wars in India…

1. Between states
2. Between different users in a basin
3. Between communities and the State
4. Between farmers and the
environment
5. Between farmers and the city
6. Between farmers within command
areas….
 The Government of Rajasthan “claims” the
water saved by communities working with
Tarun Bharat Sangh “because water belongs
to the State”….

And are TBS’s structures affecting the water

rights of downstream users – as claimed about the
effect of Laava ka Baas Dam on farmers and
wildlife in Bharatpur?
 “Little” civil wars in India…

1. Between states
2. Between different users in a basin
3. Between communities and the State
4. Between farmers and the
environment
5. Between farmers and the city
6. Between farmers within command
areas….
 Conflicts between farmers and
the environment at Bharatpur…

Turned into a cattle pasture…

A renowned Ramsar site…
 Irrigation/nature trades?
• If rights had been clearly established – for
both the farmers and the Sanctuary –
there would have been no issue
• Now, if the de facto allocation of all water
rights to farmers were regularized, then
water for Kaleodeo Ghana National Park
could be bought for about Rs 3 crore a
year (possibly with GEF funds?)
 “Little” civil wars in India…

1. Between states
2. Between different users in a basin
3. Between communities and the State
4. Between farmers and the
environment
5. Between farmers within command
areas….
6. Between farmers and the city
 Conflicts over water
entitlements in Indira
Gandhi Canal in Rajasthan
 “Little” civil wars in India…

1. Between states
2. Between different users in a basin
3. Between communities and the State
4. Between farmers and the
environment
5. Between farmers within command
areas….
6. Between farmers and the city
 Allocation between sectors

– The “first priority to drinking water”

philosophy (but cities cannot get the water
they need since farmers won’t “give it up”)
– Enormous social and economic costs because
of lack of mechanism for orderly, voluntary
transfer of water...
Some innovation starting...
Additional raw water for Chennai?
 – Last year 70% of Chennai’s water was bought
from AK farmers

–A very important first step, but an urgent need for

permanent institutional arrangements which will
provide a stable supply and preserve the aquifer
 What might this all add up to?
Results from a just-completed World Bank
study of the effects of flexible water
allocation in Tamil Nadu
 The impact of flexible water allocation…

• State income in 2020 would

– be 21% higher (than with water allocations fixed at
current proportions)
• Would relieve the water constraints for:
– thermal power generation
– Industry and the service sector
• Water for domestic uses would double
• Agricultural water use would decline by almost a
third (compared to the “business as usual” case)
• Environmental impacts would be very positive:
– 15% less overall water abstractions
– 25% less groundwater pumping
 R1
:S
el
f-
e m

-5%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
pl
oy
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,n
on
ag
R2 r ic
:A ul
tu
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ic
ul l
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ra
ll
ab
R4 ou
:S
R3 r
:O
el th
f-
em er
pl la
oy bo
ed ur
in
ag
ri
R5 cu
:O lt
ur
th e
er
ho
us
e ho
ld
s

A
ll
r
U ur
1: al
Se
lf
U -e
m
2:
Re pl
oy
gu ed
la
r
wa
ge
sa
U la
3: ry
Ca
su
al
U la
4: bo
O ur
th
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ho
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eh
ol
ds

A
ll
u rb
an
Bhatia et al 2005
Most groups (except agricultural labour) would be much better off
1. adjusting to the needs of a changing India
2. adjusting to scarcity and greater variability
3. dealing with growing conflicts
4. maintaining and renewing existing infrastructure
5. building infrastructure in under-served areas and
for under-served public purposes
6. making the transition from development to
management and development...
7. revitalizing the machinery of government to deal
with the turbulent water future
8. charting a prioritized, sequenced, pragmatic path
for making improvements
Figure 44: The stock of major water infrastructure (large
dams in this case) is aging
Tyagi
 Financial Who pays
Requirements
Financial Who pays
Requirements Interest Taxpayers

Interest Taxpayers Replace-

ment No one

Replace-
ment
O&M Users
Users
Taxpayers
Efficient
O&M
Excess Taxpayers
man-
power
Users
a. Australia b. India
the BNR model
(Build/Neglect/Rebuild)
1. adjusting to the needs of a changing India
2. adjusting to scarcity and greater variability
3. dealing with growing conflicts
4. maintaining and renewing existing infrastructure
5. building infrastructure in under-served areas and
for under-served public purposes
6. making the transition from development to
management and development...
7. revitalizing the machinery of government to deal
with the turbulent water future
8. charting a prioritized, sequenced, pragmatic path
for making improvements
There are needs for water infrastructure
investments at different levels

Nature of intervention:

poverty
broad
targeted

Type 1: Broad Type 2 :

resource
region -wide Targeted
development &
water resource water resource
affecting management
interventions interventions
water...

Type 3 : Broad
Type 4 : Targeted
service impacts through
improved water
delivery water service
services
delivery reforms
 Nature of intervention:

poverty
broad
targeted

resource
Type 1: Broad
region -wide
Type 2 :
Targeted
Scaling up
participatory
development &
water resource water resource
affecting management
interventions interventions
water...

Type 3 : Broad
rural water
service
delivery
impacts through
Type 4 : Targeted
improved water
supply
water service
delivery reforms
services
programs
 Nature of intervention:

poverty
broad
targeted

Type 1: Broad Type 2 :

resource
region -wide Targeted
development &
water resource water resource
affecting management
interventions interventions
water...

Type 3 : Broad
Type 4 : Targeted
service impacts through
improved water
delivery water service
services
Maintaining delivery reforms

irrigation
infrastructure
and managing
better
Figure 61: The basis for sound irrigation service provision
 Public Private

9Run of the river hydro

9Thermal Power generation
9Multipurpose dams 9Solid Waste
9Sewerage/Sanitation 9Bulk water supply 9Gas
9Rural electrification 9Passenger trains pipelines
9Bus Transport
9Metro
9Rural water 9Roads 9Telecoms
Rail Freights
9Rural roads 9Urban water supply
9Canal irrigation 9Groundwater irrigation

Figure 62:
Typical public and private roles in the provision of infrastructure
 Watershed
management
projects

Nature of intervention:

poverty
broad
targeted

Type 1: Broad Type 2 :

resource
region -wide Targeted
development &
water resource water resource
affecting management
interventions interventions
water...

Type 3 : Broad
Type 4 : Targeted
service impacts through
improved water
delivery water service
services
delivery reforms
Important caveats about reviving
traditional water bodies…
as documented in David Mosse’s “The Rule
of Water”,the quest for regaining the
glorious past of the tanks has been
pursued without success for 150 years
– World Bank experience with tank
restoration in Karnataka is that many of
the tanks have not filled for years..
– In heavily-stressed basins it is close to a
zero sum game, in which creation of new
rights for some means curtailing existing
rights of others…
 Major multi-
purpose water
projects

Nature of intervention:

poverty
broad
targeted

Type 1: Broad Type 2 :

resource
region -wide Targeted
development &
water resource water resource
affecting management
interventions interventions
water...

Type 3 : Broad
Type 4 : Targeted
service impacts through
improved water
delivery water service
services
delivery reforms
cubic meters per
capita
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
a

a
SA

n
n

ia
l ia

co

di
in

ai

op
st
oc
a

Ch

Sp

In
U

tr

hi
ki
or
us

Et
Pa
M
A

Figure 47: Storage per capita in different semi-arid countries

ICOLD data base
1000

800

600

400

200

0
g a a
a do rlin nge na ad ery ga
utr dus
h an
lo
r a ra is m
au
v ap In
o y
D O Kr ar C
G m
C ra N ah
ur Br
M

Figure 48: Days of average flow which reservoirs in

semi-arid countries can store in different basins
Figure 53b: The number of days of average flow that can be
stored in different river basins in India
GIS presentation by IWMI
 100%
90%
Japan North
80% Europe
America
% developed

70%
60%
50% South
America
40%
India
30% China
20%
Africa
10%
0%
0 400 800 1200 1600
Thousand GWH/yr economically-feasible potential

Figure 49: The development of economically-feasible

hydropower potential in India in international context
Figure 50: Status of Hydropower Development in
Different Regions

Source: Ministry of Power, 1998

 1000

w
er m
led p 100 Tarbela
Tehri
Mangla
(log s s resett

Kalabagh

10 Basha Indira Sagar

cale)
on

Arun II
Pers

Ghazi
1

Rampur

Himalayan sites 0.1

Naying

are the most

0.1 1 10 100 1000
Area submerged per mw (log scale)
socially and
environmentally
benign in the world
Figure 51: Environmental and social indicators for
hydropower dams
Figure 52: The declining role of hydropower in India
National Commission on Water
 but
• the Union Government, together with
the States, has been unable to
resolve the inter-state
(Arunachal/Assam) issues which
necessarily would underpin a “TVA-
like” approach the PM advocated for
the Brahmaputra basin...
 Obviously India should only be
doing major projects which
which:
• Have high economic and social returns
• Are done to high technical and
implementation standards (on budget and
on time)
• Pay much greater attention to
environmental issues (including catchment
protection and environmental flows)
• Make affected people the first
beneficiaries (rather than the victims, as
has too often been the case) of
development
 Finally on infrastructure
• while private goods (such as urban
water supply and irrigation) soak up
most of the public funds...
• there is nothing left for the huge
demands for public goods (including
wastewater collection and
treatment....)
Figure 58: Yamuna river dissolved oxygen
Source: CSE 2005
Figure 59: Yamuna river quality – faecal coliforms
Source: CSE 2005
1. adjusting to the needs of a changing India
2. adjusting to scarcity and greater variability
3. dealing with growing conflicts
4. maintaining and renewing existing infrastructure
5. building infrastructure in under-served areas and
for under-served public purposes
6. making the transition from development to
management and development...
7. revitalizing the machinery of government to deal
with the turbulent water future
8. charting a prioritized, sequenced, pragmatic path
for making improvements
 Figure 23: Rates of return on investment on
infrastructure and management of water resources
 Modern water management involves much more than
government alone....

Government

Regulator
Users
Utility
1. adjusting to the needs of a changing India
2. adjusting to scarcity and greater variability
3. dealing with growing conflicts
4. maintaining and renewing existing infrastructure
5. building infrastructure in under-served areas and
for under-served public purposes
6. making the transition from development to
management and development...
7. charting a prioritized, sequenced, pragmatic path
for making improvements
8. revitalizing the machinery of government to deal
with the turbulent water future
The art of reform is not to
say how things should be…

but to define a sequenced

set of actions which lead in
the right direction and are
politically and
administratively feasible….
 Initiate reform where
there is a powerful need, and
demonstrated demand, for change
Involve those affected, and address
their concerns with effective,
understandable information
 Develop a sequenced,
prioritized list of reforms…
Pick the low-hanging fruit first
-- nothing succeeds like
success!
Keep your eye on the ball --
Don’t let the best become
the enemy of the good!
 + =

+ dyke = Political
river
order

Water reform is, and should be, political....

Reforms must provide returns for
the politicians who are willing to
make the changes….

“Good water
management is
good politics”
Be realistic, patient and persistent
A typical OECD
country
1950 1975 2000

Heaven,
Dublin-style

2000 2025

India?
1. adjusting to the needs of a changing India
2. adjusting to scarcity and greater variability
3. dealing with growing conflicts
4. maintaining and renewing existing infrastructure
5. building infrastructure in under-served areas and
for under-served public purposes
6. making the transition from development to
management and development...
7. charting a prioritized, sequenced, pragmatic path
for making improvements revitalizing the
machinery of government to deal with the
turbulent water future
8. revitalizing the machinery of government to deal
with the turbulent water future
 Key elements of the role of
government:
• Modernizing “the rules of the game”
– water entitlements
– Setting abstraction limits from groundwater
districts
– de-monopolizing public irrigation departments
and water supply utilities
• Developing excellent and transparent water
information and decision support systems
• Setting inter-state rules of the game
– Water entitlements
– Stimulating benefit-creating cooperation
(especially in the northeast)
• Financing public goods
Some State governments are stepping are making
major progress in laying a basis for modern water
management..... Maharashtra, for example
Finally, an afterword on the
role of the World Bank…
Figure S18: The “global poll” results for South Asia

Source: World Bank 2002

The World Bank/India Country
Assistance Strategy 2004-2008
 Projected water lending and “rules of Bank
engagement (which are broadly consistent with the
analysis in the “Turbulent Future” report”)

™Water Resources – Developing information systems,

rehabilitating and modernizing major infrastructure,
watershed management, water rights, capacity building
- $ 400 million over the next four years

™Watershed management – As part of rural livelihood

programs, about $200 million over the next four years

™Irrigation – de-linking irrigation services and WRM,

Utility Reform, Strengthening Cost Recovery, Regulation,
Beneficiary Participation, Increased Productivity of
Water, Water Rights -- $1400 million over the next four
years
™Rural Water and Sanitation – Continue demand
responsive approach, moving from pilots to scale through
Centrally Funded Schemes (SWAPs) -- $700 Million over
the next four years.

™Urban Water and Saniation – Utility Reform, Improving

Services to the poor, PSP -- $100 Million Over the next
four years

™Hydro – One element in an overall energy program; key

for Peaking/ Base load mix; Bank will engage with hydro
that has limited environmental and social impacts--$ 600
million over the next four years
™RWSS – Continue demand responsive approach, moving
from pilots to scale through Centrally Funded Schemes
(SWAPs) -- $700 Million over the next four years.

™Hydro – One element in an overall energy program; key

for Peaking/ Base load mix; Bank will engage with hydro
that has limited environmental and social impacts--$ 550
million over the next four years

™TOTAL BANK LENDING FOR WATER FOR

INDIA: Will increase from $200 million to
$900 million a year
Water CAS also highlights
Bank analytic work on water
...
– Drought management
– Climate change and its impact
– Groundwater management
– Water and growth in the Northeast
– Water supply, sanitation and health
– Institutional options for reform in water and
sanitation in India
– 24/7 water supply
– Etc….
And through
reports like this
one on India’s
Turbulent Water
Future we hope to
contribute to
“putting new water
ideas into the
heads of all...”
Thank you!