PROBLEMS OF WATER SUPPLY AND MANAGEMENT

A CASE OF PANIPAT CITY, HARYANA.

Presented by:-
SUVADIP BHOWMIK
+919571632903
E-mail: suvadip03@gmail.com
 Problems of water supply and management in Panipat city 2

1.1 INTRODUCTION:

Water supply systems get water from a variety of locations, including groundwater,
surface water (lakes and rivers), conservation and the sea through desalination. The
water is then, in most cases, purified, disinfected through chlorination and
sometimes fluoridated. Treated water then either flows by gravity or is pumped
to reservoirs, which can be elevated such as water towers or on the ground. Once water
is used, wastewater is typically discharged in a sewer system and treated in
a wastewater treatment plant before being discharged into a river, lake or the sea or
reused for landscaping, irrigation or industrial use. The main sources of water for
households in Panipat city are piped supply from treated as well as untreated piped
water from groundwater sources and boreholes.

The investment required to rehabilitate and expand India’s urban water supply services
is well beyond the public sector’s financial capacity. Therefore, the public sector must
devise innovative financial arrangements, not only to meet future demand, but to
maintain the current level of service for such a fast increasing urban population.
Whether the public sector decides to utilize debt markets or private-sector participation
as viable financial alternatives, its ability to recover the costs of these alternatives, as
well as sustain water supply, will ultimately be gauged by consumers’ willingness to pay
for water service.

Managers of water resources face a continuing challenge. On the one hand, human
activities require increasing amounts of water for drinking water supply, for industrial
and agricultural needs, and for aesthetic purposes. On the other hand, a high quality,
ongoing water supply is necessary to maintain the rich natural resource heritage.

Also, water budget elements are the components of the hydrologic cycle. A water
budget is an estimation of the water resources available to “spend” or “save” and must
take into account all available ground and surface water. This includes ground water
 Problems of water supply and management in Panipat city 3
(flow, storage), climate (precipitation and evaporation), and surface water (runoff,
stream flow, and storage) (cover illustration). Precipitation either soaks into the ground
or runs off into lakes, rivers, and wetlands. Much of the water that soaks into the ground
is stored in soil to be taken up by plants. Evaporation from plants and from the land and
water surfaces returns moisture to the atmosphere, which perpetuates the cycle. Each
of these components is influenced to some degree by human actions at or near the land
surface. Components such as flow, storage, and ground water use can be controlled by
human actions; however, natural variability of other components such as drought, flood,
and geographic distribution of aquifers cannot be controlled and causes concern for a
variety of human endeavors.

Water supply in Panipat city is facing serious challenges driven by rapid

population growth, urbanization, budgetary constraints, corruption, and imperatives of
development and social equity. Water supply is falling behind the demand of a growing
population and development of new sources of water is increasingly becoming capital
intensive. Emphasis on supply- side approaches only, has led to inefficient use of water
resources, overcapitalization in infrastructure and environmental damage. Whilst
meeting new demands is necessary, it is time for more innovative, equitable, efficient
and sustainable management and use of the city’s water resources, through focusing
more on the ‘demand- side’ in an integrated manner.

PRESENT STATUS OF WATER SUPPLY AT PANIPAT CITY

Population No. of No. of Water Present %age %age area No. of Length of No. of
as per canal tube generation water population covered water distribution connections
census based wells capacity in supply covered with supply (Km) as on
2001 water MLD in with water distribution Boosting 31.03.2010
works LPCD supply stations
3,62,000 _ 140 60 125 100% 100% 2 Nos. 303 Km 27,887
Nos.
Source: P.W.D., Public health branch, Panipat
 Problems of water supply and management in Panipat city 4
HISTORY:

The maintenance of established infrastructure and services has evolved as a major

problem of development projects in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the past, it was always assumed that the resource—water—was available in sufficient
quality and quantity for drinking and household use, and that issues related to delivery
of water were the main concerns, such as expanding distribution systems to keep up
with demand.
Adequacy of clean water, a basic human need, has become the critical factor. The prob-
lems that have become most urgent, therefore, concern the resource:
 Water quality and pollution,
 Water conservation, and
 Water and demand-side management.

Water supply in Panipat city is facing serious challenges and supply-oriented indefinite
expansion of water supply infrastructures is stressing the available budgetary
allocations to the sector to the limit with population coverage below satisfactory level.
Maintenance of established infrastructure and services is a major problem in Panipat
city nowadays. In the water supply sector, community participation and management
have been identified as possible solutions to maintenance problems.

1.2 BASIC OBSERVATIONS AND ISSUES:

Ground water:
Ground water is an important resource for meeting the water requirements for irrigation,
domestic and industrial uses. Ground water is annually replenishable resource but its
availability is non-uniform in space and time. In Haryana sub-region including Panipat
city, ground water occurs in alluvium as well as in hard rocks. In alluvium, sand, silt,
kankar and gravel beds constitute potential water bearing zones whereas in hard rocks
weathered/fracture quartzites and cavernous limestones constitute potential aquifers.
Ground water at shallow depths occurs under unconfined conditions, whereas at deeper
levels confined/conditions prevail.
 Problems of water supply and management in Panipat city 5
Ground Water Sustainability:
Sustainable ground water use requires “the development and use of ground water in a
manner that can be maintained for an indefinite time without causing unacceptable
environmental, economic or social consequences”.

A) Ground water quality:

In Panipat city, industrial effluents, sewage waster, fertilizers, pesticides and
insecticides cause a number of pollutants to enter into surface and ground water,
thereby deteriorating water resources of the city. The quality of drinking water is closely
associated with human health, and providing safe drinking water is a major public health
priority. However, there are various methods of improving the quality of drinking water,
and public health officials often must decide which methods are most appropriate for a
given situation.

B) Ground water status:

In the Sub-Region the ground water is extensively used for irrigation and domestic
purpose. Due to tremendous increase in the requirement of ground water for agriculture,
industries and by newly developed urban areas, the water levels have shown a
continuous declining trend. The quality of ground water in Panipat city has changed
significantly during past decades due to industrialization, urbanization and agricultural
growth.

If we see the ground water depth in Panipat city since 1974 to 2009, we find that there
is drastic fall in ground water level. Since 1974 to 1995 there was minor decrease in
ground water level and between1996 to 1999 water level has increased but after that till
2009 there is continuous decline in the ground water level. It can be easily understood
through following, chart 1.2 and table 1.2.
 Problems of water supply and management in Panipat city 6

YEAR GROUN
D
WATER
DEPTH
IN
METERS
1974 4.56
1975 4.78
1976 4.26
1977 4.44
1978 3.93
1979 3.79
1980 4.78
1981 5.49
1982 5.84
1983 6.39
1984 6.19
1985 7.24
1986 7.13
1987 7.68
1988 9.49
1989 7.75
1990 8.6
1991 8.41
1992 9.13
1993 9.65
1994 9.83
1995 9.88
1996 8.45
1997 8.71
1998 8.78
1999 8.53
2000 9.58
2001 10.41
2002 11.27
2003 12.63
2004 12.68
2005 13.1
2006 13.63
2007 14.24
2008 14.45
2009 14.09

Chart 1.2 and table 1.2: Ground water depth in Panipat city
 Problems of water supply and management in Panipat city 7
Financial restrictions:

Leaking pipes, illegal connections, and avoidance of the payment of water bills form the
main reasons for water loss throughout Panipat city, in both material and financial
terms. The lost earnings would be needed to:

• Maintain the existing water pipe system and connect new users;

• Maintain and partly renew the water treatment plants;

• Engage in trans-regional projects to find long term solutions for sustainable water
supply for all sectors in Panipat city, for example through building dams to save water
and laying pipes to transport this water from water-rich regions to water-poor regions;

• Engage in environment awareness raising campaigns; Private

sector participation should be encouraged in planning, development
and management of water resources projects may help in
introducing innovative ideas, generating financial resources and
introducing corporate management and improving service efficiency
and accountability to users.

PROBLEMS OF WATER SUPPLY: 

Panipat city water supply is suffering from many serious problems. A significant portion
of customers do not have meters. Most of the meters are not working properly. There is
plenty of leakage all over the city. As a result of these factors, only a small fraction of
the water pumped into the city gets billed. Many customers do not pay their water bills.
Due to lack of revenue, maintenance of the system is not possible. In many localities,
water is supplied once in few days. When it is supplied, the pressure is low. Quality of
water supplied is also poor. No one knows where all the underground pipes and valves
are. As a result, in many cases, one cannot even localize the problem.

To be sustainable, an operation must be financially viable. Because of the pressure to

expand the area served, viability generally implies the recovery of the costs of operation
and maintenance, as well as capital costs. Public utilities often have difficulty getting
approval for increasing their charges to levels that are financially and economically
adequate. Sometimes this is for political reasons but often it is also because the
 Problems of water supply and management in Panipat city 8
requests are poorly prepared and their urgency is not well perceived. Higher charges
must be justified not only to the parent entity but also to consumers. Public relations
campaigns can be helpful here, but quality service is often crucial to securing
consumers' acceptance of increases.

Major problems include:

 poor engineering, construction, and maintenance;

 poorly managed metering, billing, or collection;

 poor consumer relations;

 illegal connections and theft.

1.3 INFERENCES AND CONCLUSION DRAWN:

SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS:

Physical losses: Physical losses through leaks may occur in any part of the system:
transmission pipes, service reservoirs, pumps, distribution networks, and house
connections. It may be that an existing network or part of a network is no longer
adequate to serve an area with much-increased population density, or has simply
reached the end of its useful life and should be replaced.

Administrative losses: While reducing leaks will increase the volume of water available
for sale, correcting administrative losses will not. Legalizing or eliminating illegal
 Problems of water supply and management in Panipat city 9
connections, replacing faulty (under-registering) or broken meters, and ensuring that
consumption is accurately billed will, however, increase revenues.

Meters that have been tampered with, or are faulty or broken, are a major cause of
administrative losses. Meters may break from excessive network pressure, freezing
temperatures, or malicious damage. They may under-register consumption if water
pressure is unusually low, or over-register it because air has infiltrated the system.

Other major causes of administrative losses are incompetence, inadequate training, or

corruption of meter readers. These characteristics are even more disadvantageous
where poorly paid meter readers also collect water bills. Ways to improve meter reading
include better pay and incentives for staff, appropriate training, frequent verifications by
supervisors, and changing the routes covered by individual readers. Contracting out
meter reading is also becoming more frequent. Modern methods of meter reading by
hand-held computers or remote metering generally overcome these problems.

Currently, municipal utilities provide water to households on a partial-service basis.

Most low-income city dwellers are not connected to main supplies and those who do
receive piped water receive it intermittently, at low pressures, and usually in a
nonpotable condition.

The government provided the masses with adequate water supply but the management
of the water supply systems wasn't undertaken efficiently this has resulted in
deteriorating condition of the water supply network. Thus majority is forced to pump out
ground water to fulfill the water requirements that has in turn created a huge drop in the
ground water levels.

Privatization: The answer is not either private or public; the answer is really combination
of both. But the understanding of inefficiencies can start only with the payment of right
price of water. People will never be able to pay the right price for water because it's too
costly; we have to change the technology for supply of water.

Private companies would heavily focus on reducing leakage and pilferage, and
implementing a strong system for service payment fee collection. These coupled with
right technology can bring down the costs of operation. This would make public service
 Problems of water supply and management in Panipat city 10
more efficient and profitable and can in turn eliminate/reduce the dependency on private
companies.

Preventive or routine maintenance, including leak detection, should be carried out

continuously according to pre-established schedules, according to rational
considerations such as the manufacturer's recommendations for servicing the
equipment. Once agreed upon, these schedules need to be kept to and the results
recorded. Special programs such as intensive leak detection, surveys to detect illegal
connections, or distribution network analysis, may be scheduled on an annual or one-
time basis.

End Use Efficiency: End use efficiency means doing more in economic terms with less
water. Water saving strategies and technologies can be adopted in all economic sectors
to achieve end use efficiency. For instance more than 60% of water supply to high
density areas is wasted through badly maintained service pipes and plumbing facilities
in homes. More importantly, people developed very poor attitude to the use of water,
and tend to waste more with no conservational attitude. A lot more water can be saved
through end use efficiency through application of smart technologies and metering.

CONCLUSION:

Industry, agriculture, housing, manufacturing, power generation, and well managed

public water supply are all necessary elements to nurture and sustain communities.
Careful consideration of the effect each use may have on the available water supply is
essential for the sustainability of the water supply and the water supply’s ability to be
recharged for future growth, development, and enjoyment. In order to ensure the future
of our water supply, thoughtful water supply management, including conservation,
restoration, study, and protection must be practiced.

In short, the most significant findings like a steadily increasing demand for water
combined with a low and insufficient water supply, the lack of waste water treatment
and its medium-term consequences to the ground water, uncertain developments in the
administration and supervision of the regional water companies, the unsettled
 Problems of water supply and management in Panipat city 11
distribution of water competencies, an old and decrepit water infrastructure and an
alarming payment behavior suggest a precarious situation in Panipat in 2010 and a
more serious threat to sufficient water supply in the years to come. The rather wasteful
use of water in Panipat city, e.g. the watering of pavements and streets as well as car
washing has added to the already problematic water supply situation.

References:

P.W.D., Public health branch, Panipat.

Preparation of Sub Regional Plan for Haryana Sub-Region of NCR-2021: Interim Report –II. By Scott
Wilson India, Page 2-26, 27, 28.

Community-based solid waste management and water supply projects: Problems and solutions compared
http://www.waste.nl

Water Supply and Sanitation Issues in Asia By: Arthur McIntosh, Asian Water Development Outlook
2007, Discussion Paper.

http://www.mygrapa.blogspot.com/