Wading through ignorance: Why we need to get smarter about water
For how critical a role water plays in our day to day, we know surprisingly little about our usage. And that needs to change.
Water is a resource that most of us (at least the urban elite) take for granted. However, a few days back, when the water stopped flowing through our taps in Bangalore , it got me thinking. As I read about the Cape town water crisis of 2017 and how at its peak the water usage per person was limited to 50 liters/ day, I thought to myself 50 liters is a lot right? But a few google searches and back of the envelope calculations told me how wrong I was. So I did an online poll with 2 simple questions and the 70 odd responses I got for each question, confirmed my hypothesis - Like me, most people didn’t appear to give much thought to one of our most precious resources - Water.
Pop quiz!
Here’s what the poll results looked like:
*Chart is based on results from 88 respondents across Linkedin, Twitter and Instagram
~70% of the respondents felt they consume less than 100 liters of water. If you are one of them, sorry to break your bubble, but that is likely wrong if you are someone who has a bath daily, believes in washing their clothes and utensils, and flushes at least a couple of times a day!
The Ministry of Home and Urban affairs in India estimates the daily requirements of water for an individual to be 135 liters for urban areas.
You could also try to estimate your own daily usage based on some quick benchmarks in the table below or try out this water footprint calculator (This gives results in gallons. 1 gallon = 3.7 liters)
*Sources at the end of the post
**Many apartment complexes use recycled/ treated water for flushing. If you do, you could remove that from your water usage total.
Our estimates for how much water we really use seem to be very off. One reason for this is probably that it is easily accessible (at least to most people who are reading this post. Many others aren’t as lucky. Access to clean water is a real challenge for parts like slums) and we hardly pay anything for it. Well about a third of the people I polled didn’t even realise they were paying for water in the first place!
*Chart is based on results from 73 respondents across Linkedin, Twitter and Instagram
~80% respondents did not know how much they paid or thought tap water is free. It’s not free. In most parts of the world, the municipal administration charges residents for tap water. You may not know it because unless you live in an independent house in India you may never have seen a water bill.
*This chart is based on the lowest slab for domestic piped water consumption in apartments or independent houses. Most cities have slab based water pricing where the rate charged per unit of water increases with the amount of water consumed. The rates for commercial establishments (e.g. restaurants, malls) are also typically higher than those of residences and some cities have a concessional rate for slum areas.
We do pay for tap water in India, but it is extremely cheap. As you can see, water is most other cities is much more expensive even after accounting for price parity.
Most apartment complexes in India don’t have a meter in every flat. There is only one meter for the building and the municipal corporation measures water usage for the entire building and sends a common bill to the residential society which is generally divided equally (or based on square footage) among the flats.
Some of you are probably wondering why do we have to pay for water at all? Isn’t it a basic human right and shouldn’t the government be giving us all water for free?
Water is a a utility, just like electricity or gas. It is our right to expect access to clean water, that is a water connection in our homes. Our taxes should cover the setting up of this infrastructure - the cost of laying and maintaining pipes. However, similar to electricity we need to pay for the amount of water we consume. For one, there is a cost involved in getting potable water to our taps - in treating and transporting it. Water has to be pumped through pipelines so that it can traverse distances and heights. The more water you consume, the more the cost. Secondly, water is not a ‘public good’ in economic terms. It is neither non excludable (One person can have access to water while another person doesn’t) nor non-rival (one person using water means someone else cannot use it). And so it can be treated like a ‘private’ good for which citizens are charged.
There is a case to be made for for household level measurement of water. For starters, measuring is the first step to managing. Water is a limited resource that is becoming even more scarce and needs to be managed. India’s annual per capita water availability was assessed to 1545 cubic meters in 2011, 1486 in 2021 and is expected to drop to 1367 by 2030. Anything less than 1700 cubic meters is considered to be a water stressed situation according to international standards. Addressing this challenge will need both demand and supply side interventions and measurement at a household level is the first step in controlling usage. This can be done through installation of water meters in every apartment and billing water at a household level, just like electricity. Secondly, measuring and billing our own water usage will probably do more to make the conversation around water stress in India mainstream than any awareness campaigns. We all need to be more cognisant of how much water we need and how much is available, not just for reducing our own usage but so that we are guided to take more thoughtful decisions as citizens - such as choosing not to build over lakes, making sure we have green spaces that allow for ground water recharge, investing in rainwater harvesting systems or having a tertiary treatment plant fitted in our premises. Finally, household level measurement of water will enable the implementation of slab based pricing with household consuming more also paying a higher rate and let the power of free markets play its part. Also, charging a higher price for certain segments/ localities and above average usage is probably necessary given how cheap water is compared to other cities in the world.
What’s happening in Bangalore today, could be many other cities tomorrow. Don’t wait for that to happen. Get smarter about water!
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Footnotes:
Sailee, I have recently started following the blog and I am very happy to see that my thoughts on water consumption, human's behavior towards water and our future are resonating with your post.
I would like to share my observations about majority of people I have observed in my apartment society or office premise:-
1. People never felt the need to save water or use effectively till they face water shortage. They give important through tough times and back to old ways.
2. In apartments, car washing consumes 10 to 15 liters per car per day.
3. If people start storing RO outlet water (effectively), they can save 50+ liter everyday (if family of 4 adults consuming RO water).
Looking forward to more posts on understanding the root cause of water mismanagement and our collective response to it.
Thanks for sharing this. Are there more solutions on increasing clean water supply? Also my understanding of water supply in Mumbai especially is that its not directly potable and still needs filtration. I understand we still need to pay on consumption basis but lack of potability should discount the rate consumers pay.