WATER WISE
It’s all about demand management
|
For urban water security, we must understand the consumption pattern and modify it by good practices
|
Criminal waste: Water leakage in the supply line is a huge problem in many cities
Urban water shortage is more the norm than the exception in cities across India. While supply-side augmentation has been the standard engineering response, funded adequately by programmes such as JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission), demand management has not been seen as favourably, especially with regard to funding. There is increasing evidence to show, however, that good demand management is perhaps the cheapest option available to a city water utility to ensure better efficiency of supply plus achieve a greater outreach of water services to citizens and consumers alike.
Demand management is a way to reduce water demand without reducing the quality of service and to do more with the limited water resource available. Since leakages in the distribution system average between 30 and 60 per cent, detecting and eliminating leaks is an important component.
There are three major instruments available for demand management.
Legal/Regulatory: The use of devices such as WCs, showers, taps and washing machines can be regulated and minimum performance design standards set up, which will reduce water consumption at the domestic level.
Industries can be regulated with best practice norms so that they conform to the most water-efficient use per product developed.
Economic: Pricing is a powerful signal for better water management and beyond a certain minimum, increasing block tariff can curb demand. Incentives on the other hand can also reward better water use and this can be through tax-breaks for water- efficient products which would make them cheaper than water- guzzling products.
Communication: The broadcasting of good water use practices, and the development of educational material for target groups such as schools and industries can help spread water awareness and reduce demand for water.
Demand management measures can be both behavioural and technical/financial.
At the heart of demand management, however, lies metering and measuring consumption and a segmented understanding of the practices adopted by different sections of consumers. After understanding this, options can be considered such as:
can rainwater harvesting tanks reduce demand for piped water supply?
can recycling water reduce industrial water demand?
can sustainable groundwater management practices supplement surface water requirements?
A cost evaluation is then to be done as to which is the cheapest alternative, from a whole societal point of view including externalities and not simply from an institutional point of view. This means that, for example, an industry harvesting rainwater and recycling wastewater may actually need less water from the piped mains. However, if industries are paying the highest price for piped water, this may mean a loss in revenue for the water supply provider at the cost of saving water for the city.
These understandings have to be included in wise demand management, as the whole is most certainly greater than the sum of the parts.
Demand management consists of understanding water consumption behaviour and to modify it by good practices to make water use the most efficient.
Using the International Water Association’s five-step process — plan overall, analyse the situation, develop the response, implement, and finally monitor /evaluate/review — cities can ensure better water management.
www.rainwaterclub.org
www.arghyam.org
e-mail:zenrainman@gmail.com
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Property Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Hyderabad
Kochi
Malabar
Thiruvananthapuram
