New Delhi: India could soon implement a system of graded water tariff across the country.
The Narendra Modi government has accepted the recommendation of the 15th Finance Commission, which has suggested fixing a graded water tariff to reform the water sector.
“It is imperative to fix an appropriate price for water on a graded basis, wherein higher consumption entails higher charges,” the commission has said in its report, uploaded on its website.
According to the commission, fixing water tariff is necessary because “inappropriate water pricing” is one of the major causes of over-exploitation of water in the domestic sector.
“Tariffs do not get revised on a periodic basis, resulting in a large gap between the cost of supply of water and the revenue collected,” the commission stated.
Talking to ThePrint, Secretary, Expenditure, T.V. Somanathan said, “It’s a good recommendation. We have accepted it.”
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Not the first time
This is, however, not the first time that a recommendation to fix water charges has been made. Many government reports in the past have batted for levying water fees.
In April 2020, a task force set up by the finance ministry to finalise the ambitious National Infrastructure Pipeline had also suggested levying of user charges for availing infrastructure services.
“Free services can often be overused leading to dire consequences, especially for limited natural resources such as water. Fair value is also important as the need is to provide quality infrastructure to end users,” the task force’s report had stated.
More recently, the draft National Water Policy 2020 had also recommended a graded fee system for water users that will help recover the operations and maintenance cost.
The draft policy has also recommended setting up independent water resources regulatory authorities in all states and union territories, with a clear mandate to fix water charges.
The draft policy was submitted to the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti last month by a high-level committee headed by water policy expert Mihir Shah, who was also a member of the erstwhile Planning Commission.
While batting for an affordable basic service fee for everybody to cover the operations and maintenance cost, the Shah-led panel also said economic service for commercial and industrial usage should be charged at an “economic cost”.
Need for more reliance on surface water
The 15th Finance Commission has also highlighted the need to ensure optimum utilisation of surface water for the Jal Jeevan Mission in view of overexploitation of groundwater in large parts of the country.
As part of the Jal Jeevan Mission, the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation is running the Nal Se Jal scheme, which aims to provide potable tap water connection to each and every rural household by 2024.
Also read: Bengal, UP, Karnataka fared worst, Goa the best under Nal Se Jal scheme, govt review says