Increasing Availability, Indifferent Quality, Persisting Inequalities : The Story of Water in Delhi

01 Aug 2014
By - Tanuka Endow and Nandita Gupta

Serpentine queues for water have been a common sight in Delhi. With the onset of summer, residents of the city prepare themselves for dry taps, take recourse in water tankers, and, in the poorer areas, there are long queues for this precious resource. Raised tempers and fights over water are frequent. It would, therefore, come as a surprise to know that Delhi fares quite well vis-à-vis other metropolitan cities in the country in the matter of water availability. According to National Sample Survey data for 2008-09, 86.5 per cent of households in Delhi reported availability of water within the premises, with the corresponding figures at 55.5 per cent for Kolkata, 68.3 per cent for Chennai and 81.5 per cent for Mumbai. There has been considerable increase in the availability of drinking water through taps in Delhi between 2001 and 2011. Delhi Jal Board is the main provider of water in the city. In 2011, around 81.3 per cent of Delhi’s population received piped drinking water supplied by the DJB, while the residual population accessed water from hand-pumps, tube-wells, wells, rivers, canals, etc. In 2001, a much lower proportion, 75.3 per cent of Delhi’s residents had received DJB supply. The coverage of drinking water supply expanded despite a sharp rise in the number of total households in Delhi during this decade, from 2.55 million in 2001 to 3.34 million in 2011. The distribution of water, however, reveals a different picture. Across the districts, the distribution is not equitable, with peripheral areas receiving lower volumes per resident especially in the North, North-west, North-east and Southern districts. More importantly, the inequitable distribution is more apparent if we consider the slum residents and their access to water.

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