The Economics of Urban Water Supply

After an overview of urban water supply in India at a macro level — demand, supply, distribution, cost and finance, pricing, techniques and technology used, etc., the present study shifts to focus to an in-depth analyses and comparison of the economics of urban water supply in two select metropolitan cities, namely, Gulbarga and Sholapur from the Karnataka and Maharashtra states, respectively. A variety of primary information collected through field surveys has been used to examine aspects such as procurement, purification and distribution of water, structure and levels of consumption of water by different categories of users, and the costs and revenues from water supply in relation to output and the financial position of the Corporations of the two cities. The sustainability of the existing water pricing policy has been discussed and the alternatives have been suggested.