Challenges & issues in water access, and the watercredit experience

1. Avudai Nayakam S
Senior Watsan Officer, Water.org

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3.  783M people have lack of access to safe and
clean water
 2.5B people have lack of improved sanitation and
1.1 billion still practice open defecation
 3.4M people die thru WASH related causes
 200M hours spent for collection of water
everyday
 152M hours of women and girls' time consumed
for basic human needs
 443M school days lost each year due to water-
related illness
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5.  Access to Improved Drinking Water coverage in urban
and rural scenario (2010)
Source: WHO-UNICEF (2010)
 GW – largest consumer in the world, 90% of rural water
supply from GW sources
 By 2030, the urban areas will be home to 40 percent of
the country’s people – doubling the urban population
within a span of thirty years.
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6. Source: UNICEF/UN/FAO
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8.  Technical issues
 Social issues
 Political issues
 Financial issues
 Environmental Issues
 Watercredit related Issues
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9.  Decline in water resource availability
 Water supply ≠ water demand
 Water use inefficiency (conflicts in
agriculture, Industrial and Domestic sector)
 Decreasing water quality due to unprecedented
Urbanization and Industrialization
 Lack of Infrastructure facilities for piped water
network
 Leakages in piped water supply network and
Pilferages etc.
 Decline in water security
 Drinking water source does not always follow the
source sustainability plans
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10.  Income level variation and Social classification based on the
accessibility to water resources
 Wide differentiation in Society setup and disparity in water
allocations (Heterogeneous group and Cultural Habits)
 Lack of cooperation among the communities with
officials/NGOs
 Need for Gender sensitivity in water sector
 Severe water shortages have led to a growing number of
conflicts between users in the domestic, agricultural and
industrial sectors
 Lack of awareness on various aspects of Programmes and policies
among line functionaries and people
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11.  Cooperation of Ruling governments in state and
centre
 Lack of appropriate policy framework and
inadequate institutional reforms result in conflicts
and rights issues
Political and policy issues bring forth:
 Problems in sharing water (Inter-state & between the countries)
 Conflicts between domestic, agri and industrial users
 Privatization of water - supplied at high cost
 Political will and support
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12.  Availability of local funds and its allocation for
various water use sectors
 Availability of external aided funds for mega
projects (Japan..)
 Lack of ownership from community Institutions
(meager contributions from community)
 Need for more Public contribution and CSR
involvement…
 Insufficient funds for water infrastructures –
Operation & Maintenance (‘build-neglect-rebuild’
syndrome)
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13.  The amount of rainfall is getting significantly less
and erratic to recharge the aquifer than its
withdrawal.
 Erratic distribution of rainfall – leads to floods and
droughts across the country;
 Unregulated groundwater extraction;
 Water pollution
 Decreasing water quality due to poor solid and
liquid waste management laws
 Decline in natural resource--Climate Change
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14.  Recent RBI norms --75% for PSL
 Bank lending to MFIs
 Passing MFI Bill in the parliament
 Each client can have 2 MFI loans and should not
exceed an amount of INR 50,000
 Customer retention
 Water loans are not income generating but income
saving
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16.  WaterCredit
◦ 593,367 people served with safe water and sanitation with
WaterCredit loans
◦ 102,148 WaterCredit loans
◦ $6.4M in partner smart subsidies has leveraged an additional
$22M in commercial capital
◦ Amount of WaterCredit loans disbursed to date: $17 million
◦ 99% global repayment rate
◦ Average loan size: $165
◦ Demographics: 89% of borrowers are women
◦ WaterCredit product types, at category level:
 Water loans: 40%
 Sanitation loans: 53%
 Water & Sanitation loans: 5%
 Other 2%
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17.  Total Population – 1220 Million
(271.2M Household (HH) @4.5 person / HH)
 Need of Piped water connections -
65% (176.3M HH)
 Assume 50% coverage = 88.2M HH
 Avg. loan size = INR 5000
 Total Demand = INR 4,400 Billion
(1 Billion = 100 Crores)
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18. Courtesy- Heather Arney, water.org 19-02-2013 18

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