Colloquium Day 2: September 26: Plenary Session
A new kind of revenue model is needed. Today, we are having companies, the people of the state, consultants and NGO's who are indulging in fighting for water supply and its management. Today, the choices are between dominant discourse and dominant ideology on one hand and alternatives on the other hand. Today, the need is for community participation to contribute to small user charges. Are we going to make our own decisions, or are some boards who have their consultants elsewhere are going to make decisions for us?
The group on delivery systems talked about successful relationship between ground water resources and their accessibility on one hand, and financial barriers for this purpose on the other. There has been encroachment on lakes, and rivers and this is one of the major issues. Moreover, households and communities are deprived by financial means, to access water. The major problem involved here is that of high costs involved in obtaining water supply and access. High tariffs are there for this purpose, and what's surprising is that the poor in the slum areas are actually paying more. Hence, they have to pay for delivery systems. So these systems are basically socialised installation ones, but all meters are present and no water is available through these.
A high politicization of water has taken place, but no effect of this is observed in privatization. There is no idea of funding being introduced to improve access to water. So, access is denied to people through dams and other huge hydraulic structures. Across countries, in South Asia or otherwise, there are areas where such plans are being introduced and these have been opposed by the local communities in each cases. Gender perspective is something which should also be introduced in this discussion.
The alternatives section focussed on the kind of alternatives to be introduced, for what they had to be put up and how to go about them. The first requirement was to understand the meaning of alternatives. It was pointed out that due to the mainstream discourse on development, which didn't regard water as part of the commons, it was necessary to put it down through alternatives. The control on water by market through regulations had to be done away with. The idea has been polluting water and thus must be stopped, by enforcing global and ethical standards regarding quality of water.
The kind of laws and institutions which are being pushed for externally, are means to encourage privatization. This has to be replaced by involving people, and communities and thus bringing about democratization. The alternative must not only include democratization, but also gender equality and human rights. The indicators of decentralization would include these, and the idea must be to encourage dialogue among people to share experiences and ideas with others. This would encourage democratization.
The recognition of spirit of sharing and attitude of change is a must in the process of democratizing water , its supply and its management. Thus, we must involve public-public partnerships, public utility programs, and decentralization processes to democratize water and bring inclusive ideas for people to share and put their views.
The presentation on 'Conservation & Right To Water for Future Generations' stressed on the fact that less than 1% freshwater was available for consumption as of now. There were proper rules and regulations in place to ensure that supply can be improved, provided they can be implemented. There were ancient ideas of water conservation which were discussed among the group involved in making this presentation. The freshwater amount had to be enhances, as per the group members' views. It was considered strange to have sanitation policies countering the water supply policies for domestic purposes, when the fact is that no availability of water would mean that sanitation facilities can't even be thought about.
Stress was laid on migration of people from rural to urban areas, becoming a big problem especially. Moreover, the industries, especially tannery industry, were polluting the city water sources to a great extent. There are upto 53 regulations for protecting environment test but no actual protection is taking place. There were no public spaces for interaction of public, in say a country like Korea which had huge buildings made in the name of 'development'.
The concept of stopping agricultural pollution was also given a push and was sought to be attained through proper land management and proper knowledge provided to locals; implementation of current laws effectively and forcing industries affecting environment and water bodies to shut down or obey rules. A suggestion was made to improve environment by using the 3R concept (recycle, reuse and regenerate), public campaigns for people to be educated for conservation right at village level, and other means.
In the end, Suresh Sir concluded by saying that an amazing amount of wisdom and information had been provided by the delegates in presenting the discussion undertaken among the six groups, on different aspects of water supply, which made it crystal clear the reasons for privatization, the way it was taking place, and how to oppose it as well as the alternatives available to privatizing water. These all could be of great help to all, he said.