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As water is a state subject in India, an enormous variation of irrigation water pricing across the states is noticed. Revenue collection under irrigation water charges of the states is not encouraging. The present paper reviews the structures of water pricing mechanism in different states of India and suggests a way to achieve sustainable water resources management in India. Various reports, water policy documents, and major recommendations of the irrigation commission were reviewed and analyzed. It was observed that low revenue collection is mainly due to the low rate of water taxes, no periodic revision, and flaws in the current revenue collection mechanism across the states. The water regulatory authority should be made a statutory body to manage various water uses and their fair pricing. A volumetric pricing system can be implemented in wells and tube-well-irrigated areas and for surface irrigation, and this requires considerable investment in irrigation water supply infrastructure and development of operational plans. Until a well-developed volumetric system comes into practice, the current system of revenue assessment and collection must be rationalized and simplified. An appropriate power tariff policy for rural areas and inclusion of the irrigation sector in a ground water conservation fee is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to contribute to the limited literature on water governance in small towns in India. For assessing water governance, we propose a broad framework encompassing adequacy and affordability, equity, sustainability and responsiveness. Analytically, the concept of 'service modality' is expanded to include not only institutional arrangements but also water resource deployment, and placed within a framework that includes multiple contextual variables as well. We use this framework to carry out an inductive analysis by comparing water service delivery and governance in four small towns across two states (Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) in southern India. Apart from differences in size, the towns differ in the institutional arrangements - from fully municipal management to a combination to complete para-statal management - and in the deployment of water resources - only ground water to a mixed supply of ground and surface water (dual sourcing). Data were gathered using a combination of household surveys, metering, records, and interviews. Dual sourcing resulted in adequate supply and optimization vis-à-vis end uses. Inter-household inequity is driven by socio-economic differences amongst households, but can be mitigated to an extent by increasing public tap density. But water resource use is not physically or financially sustainable. The responsiveness to citizen needs was significantly higher when the distribution was done by the local governments. Separation of roles, with para-statals providing bulk supply of surface water, and local governments managing the distribution of this and groundwater, may be an optimal service modality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Puri city is situated on the shoreline of Bay of Bengal and groundwater is the only source available to meet the city water supply mainly from two demarcated water fields. Due to the anthropogenic activities and absence of sewerage system, groundwater quality is deteriorating through open discharges of domestic waste, open defecation, septic tanks, soak pits, contaminated water pools, unorganized waste dumping etc. The objective of the paper was to assess seasonal groundwater fluctuation and water quality in terms of physcio-chemical and bacteriological parameters. For this, groundwater levels were measured and samples were collected during post-monsoon (November 2006) and pre-monsoon (June 2007) from the water fields and city area. Groundwater quality was represented spatially and temporally using geographical information system and evaluated with national and international drinking water standards. Based on the groundwater quality, suitable measures were suggested to minimize further groundwater contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]