Five high-level representatives from 18 states across the country will come together in October this year to explore the idea of public private partnerships (PPPs) in the drinking water sector in their states. The ‘first of its kind’ workshop organised by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Urban Development will be held in two phases; from October 15 to 16 and another on October 18 to 19, with nine states participating in each phase.

With the concept of PPPs gaining ground, the government seems to be waking up to the idea of private participation in the crisis-ridden water sector. From each state, the state minister for water or public health and engineering department, secretary in charge of water sector, the nodal officer of the state PPP cell, mayor of one identified city and CEO of the city’s local body will congregate to discuss the need and relevance of PPPs in drinking water, a formidable issue today.

According to a World Bank study, of 27 Asian cities with populations of over 1 million, Chennai and Delhi share the same rank as the worst performers in terms of hours of water availability per day, while Mumbai is ranked as the second worst performer and Kolkata the fourth worst.

The 54th round of the national sample survey (NSS) reported that 59 per cent of the urban household population is sharing a public source of water. The irregularity of water supply is reflected in the fact that 18 per cent households reported using some supplementary source of drinking water and 96 per cent reported storing their drinking water.

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