Experts warn privatisation may lead to water wars

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">MUMBAI: The twin agendas of making potable water accessible to the poor and privatising urban water systems made for uneasy bed-fellows at a recent Asian watermanagement workshop. <br />Held in this Filipino capital, a chaotic city of skyscrapers and shanty dwellings so similar to Mumbai, international funding institutions have showcased Manila as a model of how Asian cities can manage their water systems through privatisation.<br />But the Asian Development Bank-sponsored workshop’s thrust on privatisation may not be acceptable to a broad spectrum of Indian opinion on an issue so crucial to our future.<br />The experience of Asian neighbours —skyrocketing water tariffs inflicting a severe economic and social cost for the poor and middle classes— makes it necessary to take a closer look at the blueprint, lest we set the stage for water riots.<br />For Indians, the message of the workshop is that a national debate on water is urgently warranted before Indian policy makers leave for the Kyoto summit, when the Japanese will host the Third World Water Forum in March.<br />The Manila workshop, titled ‘Water in Asian cities, the role of civil society’, was regional consultation between NGOs, academics, bureaucrats and journalists.<br />Their recommendations will be presented to heads of government in Kyoto. Participants showed much interest in alternative models of water management from developing countries. For instance, Cambodia and Sri Lanka demonstrated how the public sector is capable of efficient and profitable performance in water services, given autonomy and managerial training. <br />Experience with rain water harvesting in India, in particular the Chennai experience of rooftop and sumpwell rainwater harvesting was mentioned, but evidence was inadequately presented, thereby negating its seriousness as a viable option. Nepali NGOs warned that rushing into privatisation could prove expensive. <br />They said that the US$644 million Melamchi water supply project, financed by international agencies on the condition of privatisation, will result in one of the highest watertariff structures in the world. Kathmandu residents will face a ten fold increase in water tariffs, compelling poor households stay away from the tap.Water would only accessible to the wealthy, they said.<br />Setting the tone for the ADB’s agenda, vice-president Myoung-Ho Shin argued that the public sector had failed to deliver safe water and sanitation. Large-scale private water providers have proved efficient, attentive to customers’ needs and financially viabile, he said. They could also deliver clean and affordable water to the poor. <br />Small-scale providers support the urban poor, they account for 25 per cent the total water distributed and 75 per cent of total revenues generated, he said. “This reality is in contrast to the belief that the poor are unable and unwilling pay for water,’’Mr.Myoung-Ho said.<br />But delegates from India and Sri Lanka challenged this contention, emphasising that the poor spent a disproportionate chunk of their income in buying water, at the expense health, education and nutritional needs.<br />ADB principal water supply specialist Arthur McIntosh pushed for “full cost recovery through appropriate tariffs’’ to become part of government policy.<br />While the workshop presented a formidable line-of representatives from private multinational and Philippine national companies, there were no representatives from poor communities.<br />For instance, despite the ‘role model’ status of Manila’s water project, its shantydwellers were not invited to endorse the claims of the private providers. Freedom From Debt Coalition, a Manila-based NGO, told TNN that their city’s five- year experience with privatisation of water services had turned out to be a “basket case rather than a best case’’.<br />Water tariffs have increased by 150 per cent in the past two years, said Violeta Perez-Corral, coordinator of the NGO Forum organised by the ADB.<br />A controversial ADB recommendation focussed on the use of bottled water as means of providing safe drinking water citizens. This approach ensured that 50 per cent of water would be captured at source, enabling companies to recover costs. But Charles Santiago, a Malaysia-based consultant, argued that development of the water bottling industry was leading to uncontrolled groundwater exploitation.<br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">(This is the first part in a series on water management.)</span> </div> </div>