A piped scheme that nobody owns
Chincholi village, 4,200 people in Ahmednagar district, has a Jal Jeevan Mission piped scheme commissioned in 2021: a borewell yielding 8 litres per second, a 200 m3 overhead tank, and 640 household connections. Design supply is 70 litres per capita per day, but supply is two hours every third day. Non-revenue water is estimated at 38%, mostly from leaking distribution lines and 70 illegal connections. The monthly tariff is ₹80 per connection, collection is 45%, and arrears are ₹4.2 lakh. The pump has burned out three times in two years; the Gram Panchayat pays for repairs from its own funds. The village water and sanitation committee has not met for 11 months and no water quality test has been done. About 90 households, mostly Dalit families on the village edge, have no connection and use a standpost that runs dry. A tanker is hired each May.
1. Diagnose the technical, financial and institutional causes of the scheme's failure.
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The causes are linked. Non-revenue water of 38% means nearly two-fifths of pumped water earns nothing; 70 illegal connections and leaking lines explain it. A ₹80 tariff with 45% collection cannot fund repairs, so the Gram Panchayat pays for pump burnouts from general funds. The pump probably fails because it runs dry or on low voltage; the source may be over-abstracted. The village water and sanitation committee has not met for 11 months, so no one owns the scheme. The 90 unconnected households, mostly Dalit, are outside the tariff base and rely on a standpost that fails. The May tanker is a symptom of source and storage failure, not a plan. Two-hour supply every third day also concentrates pressure and leakage. This is not one broken pump; it is a broken service-delivery arrangement.
2. Design a financial and institutional fix, with roles for the Gram Panchayat, the village water and sanitation committee and users.
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Design a ring-fenced service:
- Meter every connection and bulk-meter the borewell; repair leaks zone by zone, starting with the highest non-revenue-water zone.
- Regularise the 70 illegal connections with a one-time fee and a meter; do not simply cut them off.
- Set a tariff of ₹150–200/month for metered households, with a lifeline block for the poorest and a public standpost quota for the 90 unconnected households.
- Create an O&M account with Gram Panchayat and committee signatories; deposit tariffs and a 10% surcharge, and use the fund only for pumps, spares and testing.
- Train one pump operator; install dry-run protection and a voltage stabiliser.
- Hold monthly committee meetings with published minutes and a complaint register.
- Test water quarterly for E. coli, chlorinate, and publish results.
- Set a supply schedule and keep a 15% tank reserve for emergencies.
3. Is a flat, low tariff more equitable? Argue with reference to the 90 unconnected households.
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Equity is not served by free or very cheap water for all, because such water is rationed by connection and pressure, and the unconnected lose. A lifeline tariff plus a standpost quota is more equitable than a flat ₹80 that is not collected. The 90 Dalit households should get subsidised connections, not only a standpost; the standpost should be metered and located within 100 m. The Gram Panchayat should publish connection lists and arrears by hamlet so that capture is visible. If the scheme cannot cover the whole village, the first subsidy should go to the unconnected, not to repairs caused by illegal connections. The test is whether the poorest get 55–70 litres per capita per day reliably, not whether the tariff is nominally low.