The outbreak of Covid-19 has highlighted the need to have robust infrastructure in place, particularly good quality water and sanitation services. The operations of urban local bodies (ULBs) have largely been unaffected during the lockdown as they come under essential services. However, they have faced issues pertaining to lack of manpower and lower revenues. With greater attention from the government under various flagship programmes, the recovery of the sector is expected to be quicker. Going forward, there will be huge investments in the water and wastewater sector to meet the requirements of the growing population. Indian Infrastructure presents views of leading experts on the impact of Covid-19 on sector performance…
What has been the impact of Covid-19 on the water and wastewater sector?
Abhaya Krishna Agarwal
There has been a nominal disruption in the continuity of essential services related to water supply and wastewater treatment as they are managed by the government. However, the unprecedented pandemic has impacted the economy and slowed down investments in the water sector. As a result, some of the major capital projects are likely to be delayed with local governments prioritising their emergency response.
On the demand front, there has been a decline in water demand from bulk consumers such as commercial establishments and industries due to the lockdowns and travel restrictions whereas domestic water demand has increased due to regular sanitisation, hand washing, cleaning, etc.
However, revenues of water utilities have been affected during the lockdown due to the large amount of pending dues. To this end, local governments have taken certain specific measures to encourage payments from consumers including deferments in meter reading, waiving of water charges for the vulnerable, and exemption from surcharges for delayed payments. Other challenges that are being faced by utilities include absenteeism and having to deploy staff on a rotation basis, carrying out operation and maintenance with limited staff, ensuring personal hygiene and safety, dealing with disruptions in the supply chain, and undertaking sampling, testing and monitoring.
Despite all this, the sector is performing well with effective operation and maintenance of water supply systems. The economy is now in reboot mode with the central government slowly moving towards allocating funds for new projects while continuing to invest in various water sector programmes such as the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and the JalJeevan Mission to improve infrastructure and service delivery.
Sourav Daspatnaik
The municipal wastewater sector comes under essential services and is responsible for the functioning of sewage treatment plants (STPs) and network management in the urban sector. Its proper functioning is typically essential during the monsoon season. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has led to an increase in domestic per capita water usage with most of the people staying indoors. As a result, the flow rate is higher in the sewerage networks.
On the project front, the lockdown halted construction work with large migration of labour from the sites. However, construction works have now resumed in a low-key manner with labour slowly returning to the construction sites in August. The projects have reported an increase in costs due to higher material procurement costs as well as disruptions in the supply chain during the lockdown in many parts of the country. The lockdown has also adversely affected site drawing approvals and payments from both government and private sector clients. However, the pace of work is expected to get back to normal levels in the next few months as construction of new projects gets under way.
Arun Lakhani
The Covid-19 pandemic has slowed down capex in all the sectors, including the water and wastewater sector. In the operation and maintenance segment, the Covid-19 warriors have done a commendable job of ensuring uninterrupted water supply during the pandemic. These field operation personnel have been going to containment zones to open the valves for water supply. However, with residents being reluctant to let the personnel inside their premises, projects to provide new connections have slowed down, affecting the existing capex plans in the sector.
Based on the issues that have been faced, what has been the industry’s response to the pandemic?
Abhaya Krishna Agarwal
Water scarcity is a global concern that can only be dealt with through collective action and sustainable solutions. The present crisis calls for short- medium- and long-term cost-effective measures for water security and resilience, operation and maintenance, and smart monitoring systems. The water utilities have adopted strategic measures to deal with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. They have installed handwashing facilities in public locations in various cities to control the spread of the virus. They have also initiated sanitisation multiple times a day for safety of people in informal settlements where common public toilet facilities are used. Besides, they are providing water through water lorries where connections are not in place and ensuring that all lorries are regularly sanitised. The ULBs have equipped their field staff with personal protective equipment and are spreading awareness with campaigns regarding hygiene and sanitation. They are focusing on the automation of operations to minimise manual intervention. Additionally, wastewater is being tested in places for Covid-RNA in order to evolve guidelines for control of Covid-19 through wastewater surveillance. The preparation of standard operating procedures and disaster management plans has been effective in managing the pandemic.
Sourav Daspatnaik
Swach Environment Private Limited remains committed to the operation of water utilities and maintenance of water supply assets as an essential services provider despite the lockdown. It is taking the maximum possible safety precautions as per guidelines and working with reduced manpower in order to maintain physical distancing. As an organisation that provides 24×7 operations and maintenance services, it has faced challenges in managing repairs and breakdowns during the lockdown as many locations are closed and vendors are still not fully operational. Its prime focus during the current pandemic situation remains high safety guidelines and caution for the operational staff. Besides, it has prioritised the operations and maintainance works despite the disruptions in supply chain and payment cycles.
Arun Lakhani
Vishvaraj Infrastructure Limited’s (VIL) first reaction to the pandemic was to put safety systems including safety drills and personal protective equipment kits in place for personnel engaged in on-ground work. Besides, VIL has worked on spreading awareness about Covid-19 through water distribution works that put them in direct contact with various stakeholders.
What is the outlook for the sector based on the current situation?
Abhaya Krishna Agarwal
The year 2019 witnessed the aggregation of the water ministries into the Ministry of Jal Shakti, along with the launch of the JalJeevan Mission for universal access to functional household tap connections in rural areas and the Jal Shakti Abhiyan for water conservation in urban areas as steps towards a more resilient and equitable water situation in the country.
With growing population and urbanisation, water demand is steadily increasing and urban centres face tremendous water stress. Dependency on groundwater for supply is up to 85 per cent, and this has resulted in depleted aquifers in more than 50 per cent of India’s districts. To plug the gaps between demand and supply and provide desirable levels of service, an investment of approximately Rs 20 trillion is required in the next 10 years. Water scarcity is projected to result in a loss of about 6 per cent in GDP. The generation of wastewater is estimated to double by 2050 while current treatment capacity does not even meet the present requirement and over 60 per cent of the wastewater goes untreated. As per estimates, there is a requirement of about Rs 400 billion to plug the present treatment capacity gap. Keeping this in view, water services are expected to be prioritised by the government by bringing in new technology, new business models and decentralised solutions. The government needs to attract private sector investments and properly regulate them through performance-based contracting mechanisms, and this will lead to efficiency improvements and better service provision.
Sourav Daspatnaik
The sector looks promising in the long term once the short-term challenges are dealt with. Projects under the ambitious National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and other river rejuvenation projects provide a great opportunity to bring about transformation in discharge norms of city effluents and wastewater. Swach Environment Private Limited has used the lockdown period to strengthen its team and provide strong business support and improve operations. It is confident that the NMCG projects and other similar projects funded by the government will provide a new direction to the sector via building and managing wastewater infrastructure. Cities too have become more conscious regarding better management of wastewater, which is a positive fallout of Covid-19. The emergence of predictive technologies with better construction quality and operating protocols have come in handy to continue with operations during the pandemic. However, it is important to focus on building new sewage infrastructure and rejuvenate old infrastructure so that its life-span and efficiency levels can be increased.
Arun Lakhani
The central government has announced several ambitious projects, particularly the Nal se Jal scheme, which is expected to attract huge spending in the sector. Rural water supply has been largely neglected in the country so far. However, it has been getting increasing attention from the government and its commitment to improving water supply services will result in the completion of a large number of announced works and projects. Therefore, overall, there is a stable outlook for the water sector in India. However, it is subject to how Covid-19 pans out in the next three months.
What will be the key priority areas in the post-Covid world?
Abhaya Krishna Agarwal
The outbreak of Covid-19 has elucidated that the most cost-effective way to prepare against a pandemic is through investment in core public health infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems. Therefore, going forward, the key focus areas of the government will be water security and resilience, automation and digitalisation, communications and water sector regulators. There will be greater adoption of systems that are remotely controlled with lower manpower requirements as they perform better during emergencies. The development of online systems and programmes will be robust for potential remote operations on a larger scale. Further, a participatory approach will be key for future development as accountability and a sense of ownership by consumers play a vital role in water conservation.
Finally, there will be the development of tools to strengthen economic and water resource regulatory functions within the sector. Some progress has already been made in prioritising the Sustainable Development Goal-6, which aims at achieving universal access to water supply and sanitation services, scaling of initiatives such as wastewater recycling and reuse, rainwater harvesting, waterbody restorations, water-sensitive urban design practices for sustainability, and incorporation of environmental safeguards into design and development.
Sourav Daspatnaik
Swach Environment Private Limited’s key priority is to maintain operational excellence and viability of managing operations at each unit. At present, its prime focus is on building a better understanding of its clients’ requirements and leveraging technologies instead of simply expanding the business at a fast pace. It is exploring new technologies for the industrial wastewater segment and is working with other technology companies. There lies huge scope in upgrading the existing sewerage infrastructure and enhancing the life cycle of these assets through rejuvenation and modernisation. Besides, the rural drinking water is expected to grow in the future as government is keen to invest in the segment. Swach Environment Private Limited expects the government to step in to support the water sector players via one-time restructuring of debt by at least 12-24 months and providing them short term working capital assistance in the form of fund and non-fund based limits.
Arun Lakhani
The key priority area of the government in the post-Covid world will be the completion of ongoing projects in the sector. Besides, its other focus areas will be water distribution, reuse of wastewater and rural water supply grids. On the technology front, automation has already surfaced as an urgent requirement for all the water networks, so that cities can run without risking the lives of personnel who are manually handling the water valves. Therefore, technology, particularly supervisory control and data acquisition systems and flow meters, have become the primary requirements for the bulk water supply segment, followed by smart metering on the customer front. Further, the National Green Tribunal has also asked the government to speed up the contracts for wastewater treatment. This is a good move for speedy implementation of projects. The NamamiGange Mission is also expected to see a number of pending projects being implemented in full swing after the pandemic. VIL will focus on hybrid annuity model-based projects under the programme such as STPs and sewage collection network.