In hydrologically rich Kolkata, the poor pay for the water supply of the rich

Kolkata, a city traditionally rich in water resources, is now supplying 5.5 million litres of water daily through tankers despite producing sufficient water for its residents, according to sources within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). The situation in the city, built on a deltaic topography with the Hooghly River nearby, hints at high wastage and distributional failures.

The issue was also recently highlighted by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Despite the city producing enough water to meet the Union government’s benchmark of 150 litres per person per day, these problems persist.

Kolkata produces 479 million gallons daily (MGD), or 2,180 million litres daily (MLD), including about 182 MLD of groundwater. Of this, around 1,700 MLD is designated for domestic use. Considering the city’s estimated 5 million population, the requirement is approximately 750 MLD. Even accounting for the additional 5 million people who frequent the city daily, the produced water should suffice, noted a senior civic official, acknowledging that high wastage and distributional failures are the main culprits.

Tankers primarily serve slum areas; quality remains issue

“We have 120 water tankers, and on average, each tanker makes 12 trips daily, resulting in about 1,440 tanker trips of drinking water being delivered to various points in the city every day, especially to slum areas in the southern fringes like Tollygunge and Jadavpur,” shared a senior KMC official.

At a rate of 3,600 to 4,000 litres per trip, the daily tanker supply averages 5.5 million litres of filtered water. Despite the volume being lower compared to cities like Bengaluru or Chennai, areas with low water pressure and poor water quality still require regular tanker deliveries, observed Arunabha Majumdar, a water expert and former director of the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health (AIIH&PH).

“The water is mainly supplied to the southern fringes of the city, such as Tollygunge and Jadavpur, where there are still shortages. During peak summer, it is also sent to various housing complexes,” explained Bibhas Maity, former director-general of water supply for the civic body.

Official figures suggest that about 30 per cent of supplied water is wasted, but KMC officials believe the actual loss is closer to 35 per cent or more. A World Bank scheme aimed at reducing water loss by 20 per cent yielded little tangible results.

“We produce enough water for the citizens, but due to high wastage and distributional disparity, we have to supply drinking water daily through tankers,” said another official, noting that water quality is also an issue in some areas dependent on groundwater supply.

“As per our findings, Kolkata’s groundwater ranges from fresh to brackish with high hardness and iron levels, as well as occasional arsenic and manganese. Salinity,  due to chloride content, is also a key issue,” explained Pradip Sikdar, a water scientist at the Indian Institute of Social Welfare & Business Management.

“In the northern, southern, and central parts of the city, groundwater is often unsuitable for drinking,” added the expert, mentioning contamination with sewage in areas like Tolly Nullah.

Unplanned urbanisation exacerbates these problems. “Our assessment years ago revealed a sharp decline in groundwater levels, especially in central and south Kolkata and along EM Bypass where high-rises have emerged. The situation has only worsened since,” noted Tapas Ghatak, an environmental expert formerly with the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.

Poor suffer, subsidise and still willing to pay

In Kolkata, about a third of the five million population, mostly slum dwellers, lack direct water pipeline connections. Nearly 1.5-2 million people collect water from around 21,000 standpoints around the city.

A KMC official explained that slum residents use much less water compared to those in higher socio-economic strata. “The poor subsidise the rich as planning calculations are made equally for all, but the poor consume much less,” added the official.

While the rich draw groundwater in addition to receiving pipeline supply, the poor primarily depend on public sources like standposts and tubewells. “Most water is seized by the city’s middle and upper classes, commercial establishments, and the floating population. The government’s policy of not charging for water means the poor effectively subsidise the wealthy,” said an expert.

“Our surveys revealed that poor slum residents are willing to pay a minimal water tax if the supply’s quantity and quality are assured, but the rich in areas like Alipore completely oppose it,” said a KMC expert.

Although the government does not charge domestic users, both poor and rich often pay illegal suppliers in water-stressed areas. A significant volume of KMC-supplied water is wasted ‘by design’ in certain parts of the city, where locals divert or illegally draw water for resale at high prices.