Award-winning initiatives taken up by the City Managers' Association Karnataka on urban water management - Case studies

The following case studies describe the work of the City Managers' Association Karnataka in water management covering rainwater harvesting, watershed development, drinking water and water body restoration initiatives, set in an urban context. These initiatives were implemented in association with urban local bodies - Town Municipal Council Kundapura, Town Municipal Council Hosadurga, City Municipal Council Chitradurga, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC).

The City Managers' Association Karnataka (CMAK) supports Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Karnataka, by providing advisory and technical assistance in Municipal finance, Infrastructure development, Project Management, Costing, Resource mobilization and Research, apart from facilitating project planning and implementation and any other areas of interest to the ULBs.

CMAK's work was awarded the National Urban Water Awards (NUWA) 2009. The NUWA has been instituted by the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, in partnership with the Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI). For more info, please see here

Read the case studies:

Karnataka Urban Water Sector Improvement Project (KUIFDC): The World Bank-assisted Karnataka Urban Water Sector Improvement Project (KUWASIP) is a project for reforms in Water Sector at the State and Urban Local Body levels. The primary objectives of the project are reforms and service improvements through Private Sector Participation in water sector in Karnataka. For this purpose, three cities viz., Belgaum, Gulbarga and Hubli-Dharwad have been selected for investments for improvement of water supply services. The project mainly comprises of two components viz., “Sector Development & Technical Assistance” and “Physical Investments”.

Reduction of Non Revenue Water in Municipal Water Supply (Town Municipal Council Kundapura): This case study describes the efforts of the Municipal Council, in improving the domestic water supply situation in Kundapura town. The work done includes identifying a permanent source of water, constructing wells, installing water treatment plants, implementing a water quality monitoring system, improving the tariff structure and revenue collection system, focussing on individual house connections rather than public stand points, meeting consumer demands effectively and setting up an effective grievance redressal system.

Regional Integrated Water Harvesting in Hosadurga Taluk (Town Municipal Council Hosadurga): Hosadurga taluk is a drought-prone area, facing several economic and social problems. This case study describes the efforts of the urban local bodies and farmers involved, towards supplying drinking water, installation of hand pumps and construction of open wells, using State Government funds. Hosadurga taluk has also utilized the scarcity funds from both State as well as Central Government effectively, and built a series of check dams and bunds for storing rainwater.

Revenue Billing and Collection System (BWSSB): This case study describes the implementation of the Revenue Billing and Collection (RBC) System of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). The RBC system delivers G2C services to more than five lakh citizens of Bangalore, managed by 36 sub division offices. All the Subdivision offices were well connected through LAN, and help to offer many water and sanitation-related services of BWSSB to the citizens of Bangalore. The services offered at these centers are transparent, empowering the people in real terms and provide a more responsive and empathic administration.

Revival of Ancient Water System of Chitradurga City through Rainwater Harvesting (City Municipal Council Chitradurga): The District Administration in association with Chitradurga City Municipality has made elaborate attempts to revive the ancient water bodies which are abundant and located within the city limits. The aim was to rejuvenate the Open wells and other traditional water bodies such as Kalyanis, Hondas etc, through rainwater harvesting and make the local water supply system sustainable.