A small attempt to understand a big Issue of Water & Sustainability. Thanks to my professor, Judith Rees, LSE.

1. Water Issue

2. This Presentation is
inspired by an article
written by
Prof. Judith Rees
(Director of the Grantham Research
Institute on Climate Change & the
Environment)
of London School of
Economics and Political
Science

3. Water
Tasteless, odorless, colorless
Water, oh water Yet valuable and versatile
You go down my throat Water, the one use for drinking
Tip in a glass To quench thirst and dehydration
You'll sink like a boat. Water, the one used for bathing,
Without you, our bodies would be stinking
Water, oh water Water, the one used for irrigation
You also clean me Without you, all the plants would be dead
Turn on the warm water Water, the one used for cooking,
And fill me with glee Without you, food would be eaten raw
Water, the one used for washing
Water, oh water Without you, our possessions would be dirty
Grow me a crop Water, the universal solvent
Fruits and veggies All the solutes depend on you
My mouth will drop. I wonder how life would have been like
Without water!
Water, oh water Water is life, no water no life!
Let me swim Water, you're the most vital liquid of liquids
Don't let me drown
I already have water within.

4. Water, water,
every where,
nor any drop to drink!!!

5. Millions of people still lack
access to even most basic
services of water & sanitation
ONE
3 billion are still forced to drink water
from unsafe sources

6. TWO
Pace of urbanization has outstripped
connections to water infrastructure.

7. THREE
Over 2.5 billion lack access to even the
most basic forms of sanitation,
Which has major implications for
1. Public health,
2. Environment
3. Safety of ground water
4. Safety of downstream water

8. FOUR
1.4 million children under Five die
annually due to unsafe water &
inadequate sanitation

9. FIVE
Global Economics Losses of US$ 260
billion per annum due to lack of basic
water services

10. What Needs our urgent
attention?
ONE
Our Failure to value water

11. Pricing 15 Rs Per liter for Clean Drinking water where as…
TWO
Adopting appropriate pricing policy

12. Pricing
TWO
Un-priced or under priced water
resources and services make it
virtually inevitable that demand will
outstrip supply

13. Pricing
TWO
Little investment will take place to
improve water use efficiency or to
develop non-conventional water
sources

14. Policy/ Allocation of
Resources
Two
Available supplies will not be allocated
to the most economically and socially
beneficial purposes.

15. True Value?
THREE
Still common for us to consider water
resources and ecosystems services as
“FREE GOODS” and for water supplies
to be “SOLD” for all purposes
(Agriculture, Industrial, Domestic) at
prices which fail to recover the
operating costs.
How can one make any contribution to
infrastructure replacement or
extension?
Governments/ Ministers & Politicians
make false recognition about “the
need for sustainable and efficient cost
recovery and innovative financing
mechanisms”.
Recognition is one thing,
implementation quite another

16. TWO
Water pricing reforms are always
controversial but without them the
management system will not be
sustainable either in environmental
or in economic terms

17. Investments & Maintenance
Four
We need an investment of about
US $ 18 billion to Give Safe Water &
Sanitation to All
Some US $ 54 billion per annum is required
to maintain the existing infrastructure
& very large, but largely un-quantified,
sums to tackle pollution and ecosystem
degradation, reduce vulnerability to water
related hazards and address the potential
effects of climate change

18. Finance
Five
To solve the problem India will get at
the most only 5% form the world in
the coming years as finance & AID
We will have to as citizens of India
contribute 95 % of the required
investments
Are we ready?
Is our System ready?
Is our Government ready?

19. Attracting Investments
SIX
Private sector investments will only
come if reasonable rates of return can
be made…
Reality is that the bulk of the needed
funding can only come from User
charges or Public budgets.
It is a common opinion everywhere in
the world that WATER is a public good
& hence its elements should be
publically provided and financed.
???
Don’t we not derive private benefits
from use of water?

20. What do we learn then?
SEVEN
Where ever possible revenue should
be raised from user or beneficiary
For Example
payments…
However, there are much higher
opportunity costs involved in
continuing to use public funds to
provide private goods to those who
Low use Low Price
can afford to pay for them..
Meaning, why should water be
High Use High Price
provided as a public good to those
who can afford to pay higher price?
suggests that we Can Be a Policy Thumb Rule
need a differential
pricing strategy &
policy.

21. Other Challenges
Eight
Pricing reforms are but just one
challenge
Equally important is the need to
develop governance and institutional
arrangements, which recognize not
only the interdependencies that exist
between the different users and uses
of the same multipurpose water
resources but also…
Those between the water sectors and
other sectors of the economy

22. Service Above Self

23. A Presentation by
Rtn. Amit Gopal Chauhan
Rotary Club of Kalyan, RI District: 3140
India
Cell: +919769442462
Email: amit2462@hotmail.com