Improving Urban Water Supply & Sanitation Services

This Advisory Note on Improving Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Services (WSS) in India is an effort to provide guidance to States and Cities in adopting specific policies and governance structures for improving service delivery to the customers. As we decentralize services to the Urban Local Bodies, we need to create appropriate institutions at the local level that are responsible, efficient, and accountable, and are capable of providing quality services. The note seeks to address key policy, institutional, financial and professional issues for formulating a Comprehensive Sector Development Plan at the State and the Local Body (LB) level. The Advisory further delineates how cities could undertake the formulation of Service Improvement Plans (SIPs), focusing on outcomes rather than outputs and ensuring efficiency of capital investments. It specifically identifies policies and principles for clarifying the mandates, improving governance, financing and developing infrastructure, regulating services, and building capacity. We look forward to more and more LBs adopting the proposed framework for progressively achieving improved, customer oriented, and accountable services.

The Advisory draws on the experience gained in implementation of large number of water supply projects as well as Urban WSS Business Plans for select States, supported through Technical Assistance by the World Bank during 2008-11. States are advised to prepare detailed action plan for the next ten years for the Urban WSS sector.