13ème Congrès Mondial de l'Eau, Montpellier, France

abstract 208

Informal water suppliers meeting water needs in the peri-urban territories of Mumbai, an Indian perspective

Author(s): Anastasia Angueletou-Marteau

Keyword(s): water informal economy, small-scale water providers, peri-urban territories, water needs, unreliable water supply

Article:

Poster:

Session: OS4e Infrastructure

AbstractThis paper addresses the issue of water informal economy in the peri-urban areas of Mumbai. The term

“informal economy” refers to all the types of water suppliers who are not operating in the legal framework of water

management in a given area. They are usually small-scale private providers, who are alternatives to legal operators,

such as municipalities or authorized private operators.
Peri-urban areas are undergoing a rapid transformation in

the form of economic development, urbanization, demographic changes, all of which have implications on the

demand and supply of water. Current water policies are not able to adapt to these rapid transformations and

informal providers fill in the supply-demand gap. Access to water is not satisfactory, be it supplied by a large

distribution network, or by private operators using alternative means.
Until now, despite the large number of

studies pertaining to small-scale water providers in developing countries’ big cities, little work has been done to

identify and analyse the ability of these operators.

Objectives
• To understand why small-scale water

providers have appeared in peri-urban areas, what type of service they provide and why they have succeeded in

doing so, where municipalities have failed.
• To examine to what extent small-scale water providers’ activities are

sustainable and whether they constitute a temporary or permanent phenomenon in these territories.
• To

examine whether we are heading towards new forms of urban governance, where informal actors no longer compete

with each other, but cooperate with public utilities and emerge as an extension of the public

utility.

Methodology
This research paper is based on fieldwork carried out in the peri-urban areas of

Mumbai in 2005. The study consisted in a household survey in access to water and household preferences in the

choice of water providers and in interviews with public utilities’ representatives and informal operators.

Results
• Small scale water providers’ activities have expanded in response to local conditions and

social, institutional, political and legislative constraints.
• There is a strong relation between the type of settlement,

household income and informal access to water.

Conclusion
• The current trend is an increased

“informalisation” of water supply. Small scale water providers are no more a marginal solution in access to water but

they appear with NGOs as an alternative, a diversified solution in urban areas.
• The lack of sufficient water

supply leads to a generalization of water poverty in peri-urban territories. The combination of various sources of

water does not guarantee the satisfaction of household demand.

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Informal water suppliers meeting water needs in the peri-urban territories of Mumbai, an Indian perspective