Starting in September 2010, URBZ/Urbanology will begin a 9 months long study of Goa’s unique brand of urbanism with the Royal Institute of Fine Art in Stockholm. Excerpts from the studio’s brochure.

An Urban System

Goa is the state in India that has most clearly cultivated its own identity despite almost 500 years of colonialism. Goa has an almost mythical reputation for being Paradise on earth, with a biological diversity only exceeded by the Amazonian jungle. What was once a refuge for western wanderers; today Goa has become a weekend playground for Mumbai’s burgeoning middleclass and a destination for Indians and charter tourists alike. At the same time Goa is in the midst of an intense debate concerning its urban future. Here we find engaged activists battling market-driven building development and the consequent decimation of biological systems. Instead, these activists envision an urban system in which villages and towns intersperse with wild as well as managed landscapes, all growing into an economic, and physical whole. Included in this vision is a shift from the present major sources of income – including rice-fields and a devastating mining industry – to diversified agricultural production, I.T., biotechnology and eco-tourism. Can Goa show the way for the rest of the country in a transformation from a rural to an urban economy, thereby offering a convincing urban alternative to the mega-cities? Could Goa’s biological and cultural diversity contribute to a resilient urban complex? Would such a hybrid be another way of understanding Urban life? Is the »forest city« a distant cousin of the mega-city’s urban jungle?

The course is structured in sections each with a specific theme. We will find a foundation in relevant architectural and urban planning theories, as well as biology, philosophy, resource- and economic theory. We will discuss the term biodiversity and its urban implications. We will study current Indian architects who are shaping a national architectural agenda, as well as international names that are developing alternative perspectives on urban planning. We will explore some of modernism’s lesser-traveled paths, ones in which the tropical climate informed another kind of architecture. We will investigate lifestyle patterns, innovation, food production in a local and global perspective, biomimicry and radical mapping. We meet architects, urban planners, systems thinkers, natural and social scientists, journalists, economists, anthropologists and artists in a cross-disciplinary discourse. The previous three-year program, Cities and Energy will provide a basis for further study. Underlying all aspects of the course is a focus on visualization and communication.

Download the brochure

Many interesting aspects about the reality of water distribution and shortage have been revealed from conversations I had with residents of different neighborhoods of Dharavi and Mumbai .  I had prepared ten questions for these interviews; however each time this was just the kick-off for lively discussions about different issues of water management. Here are some of the most interesting points.

The Durge family, from the municipal chawl in Koliwada:

The family of six gets water for 2 hours a day (4:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m.). For all residents of the municipal chawl, the     water is metered jointly, and the cost is included in their monthly rent. However, water pressure has been low, so the family’s 1.000l tank can not always be filled up entirely. This means that when the water will be capped for a day per week, family members will not be able to wash themselves or their clothes that day.

According to the Durges, the low water pressure is due to the many illegal connections that tap into the main pipeline which runs closeby to their house. They estimate that only 20-30% of the water connections in Dharavi are legal! One of the reasons for this is the price for a legal water connection: between Rs. 10.000 and 12.000, plus about Rs. 1.800 in bribes. Mr. Durge argues that corruption is the biggest problem associated with Mumbai’s water system, which is also the reason why illegal connections run by the water mafia that sells the water at overpriced rates to people that have no choice than to buy it, are not stopped by the government.

The Durge family is very interested in installing grey water re-use facilities in their house as part of a larger effort by the government for water conservation. Poor families, however, they think will need help to finance the equipment and installation of such devices.

Prince and Rita Koli from Koliwada:

Though having the privilege of a private water tap in their house, Prince and Rita reported about water fights happening in their courtyard between members of six different families that share one tap. A lot of water gets wasted in this process because it is spilled on the ground. Shouting happens on a daily basis now from 4:30 a.m., because the water pressure is so low that not everyone is able to fill their buckets, drums, and other vessels during the water hours. However, there is also a lot of solidarity since everyone in the neighborhood has to rely on illegal water connections. Day-long water cuts have already occured here recently. In this case, families connected to different networks (there is no obvious delineation between the networks) would share with their neighbors, though this can require to carry the water quite far sometimes.

The family of eight has an 800l tank, but due to their home being located on the 2nd floor, it only fills up half or one-third on average. A motor pump gets the water in the tank above the bathroom. The Kolis would require 1.000l daily to get by comfortably. Their water supply is metered and billed monthly by illegal water providers who steal the water from the municipal pipes.

Also, one member of the extended family runs a plumbing firm, which in Koliwada is a good business – only few understand the intricate network of hundreds of small pipes running through the alleys.

Bhau Korde, of Rajgir Sadan building, near Sion station:
Mr. Korde and his family live in a building about 10 years old, which has a legal, metered water connection. There are storage tanks on the roof, in the basement, and in each individual unit above the bathrooms. The monthly bill is split among all residents of the building.  He argues that there is a lack of incentive to save water generally in Mumbai, because of lack of metering. People connected to illegal networks often pay a fixed monthly fee, or not at all. For those connections that are metered, hardly any are metered individually, so the water use does not reflect in the water bill.

His call is to invest first and foremost in meters, and to have a flexible pricing system that would charge double the amount per liter for those who exceed the per capita availability of water in the city of Mubmai (currently around 90l per day).

Jaya Vimalraj Nadar and women from her community, from Sangam Galli:

This community is hit by the water scarcity harder than most others. The very small homes have limited space for water storage, and the number of existing taps per capita is below average. There has already been cases of several day water cuts in this poor neighborhood, and the women reported that the government has recommended to them to go back to the villages during dry season, because there is not enough water for everyone.

Actually, this is what they will have to do if water cuts longer than two to three days happen.  Threats for this to happen have already been expressed to the community by government officials, they say. This would mean people will not be able to go to work during that time, and Jayas daughters won’t be able to attend school or college.

Most of the families here are from Tamil Nadu, and they feel this is also an issue of discrimination against non-Marathans.
The women feel strongly that the government owes them better infrastructure, especially since candidates have repeatedly promised this before elections, literally buying people’s votes.

Water usage here is already very efficient; additional greywater re-use facilities would have to be very small and well-fitted into the limited space.

I have experienced an exceptional sense of community amongst the families here. The limited resources are being shared, and the women have organised themselves to form a group of spokespeople, who also take on other community leadership roles.I also had the opportunity to speak to several people living in larger, multifamily highrise buildings. Though I have found most Mumbaikars are extremely well informed about the water issues Mumbai is facing, among the members of this group I spoke with, some are less aware than others. Most flats have a 24h water supply, because the building complex would manage the storage, and would purchase additional water from tankers if required; however nobody knows where these tankers get the water from!

Individual water tank capacities are usually around 200l per person.A local architect friend told me about water issues in local building practice. Many of the newly constructed houses in Mumbai do not envision rainwater harvesting from their roofs or greywater re-use systems (for toilet flushing), though installation of such devices would be easy and relatively low-cost.  He argues that there is a lack of awareness of water scarcity for the city as a whole among those who have enough money.  A recent news article, however, suggests that the city is considering to make rainwater harvesting mandatory for all new developments, as is already the case in many big cities in India.

Many thanks to Larson Vaiti and Prince Koli for translating the interviews that were conducted in Marathi or Hindi into English.

When I arrived in Mumbai, the water shortage as a result of poor monsoon rains in 2009 struck me. The availability of drinking water per capita now fell below the mark 100l per person and day, and this situation will most probably worsen in the near future, first because the city is growing fast, and second because monsoon rains are becoming ever more unreliable.

Mumbaikars are very aware of this problem, as water is rationed and it impacts their everyday life.  Water is now available only for between one and three hours per day in peoples homes.  The government has also announced a one day per week complete water cut for each neighborhood.

The water shortage is also very prevalent in the media: articles in the newspaper appear frequently on this topic, there is a TV commercial saying ’save water, save lives’, and people have received text messages on their cellphones from the city, asking them to conserve water.

ways of water storage in Mumbai

It is my goal to find out what this means for people and really understand the issues associated with it.  Documenting the situation will, hopefully, not only trigger a discussion on this blog, but also make this crucial information available for everyone interested or involved in planning efforts in order to facilitate appropriate design.

I am hoping to gain more insight by trying to understand ancient and recent design examples across the country that attempt to cope with water shortage and learn from their successes and problems.  I then plan to explore opportunities and challenges of grey water re-use and rainwater harvesting in the particular context and the space constraints of Mumbai, most pragmatically, at a micro scale.

water pipes delivering water to the city

Mumbai and the reservoir lakes (marked blue)

1. How does water shortage impact the lives of people of diffrent social and income groups in Mumbai?

2.How do Mumbaikars deal wth this issue in their daily lives? What is their attitude towards it?

3. What is the city’s strategy at present?

4. Could the problem be assessed at a micro scale?

5. What are simple and cheap means for rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse?  Can they be integrated even in very small living spaces?

6. What would this mean at a city scale?

Mumbai’s water supply comes from 6 reservoir lakes that store rainwater collected  during rainy season: Vihar lake, Tulsi lake, Tansa lake, Upper Vaitarna, Lower Vaitarna, and Bhatsa. The city draws from the Mithi and Thane watersheds.  No additional capacity has recently been added despite the current rapid growth in population of Greater Mumbai. 

These lakes are fenced and protected by armed forces to prevent possible terrorist attacks on the city’s water supply.

The issue however is less the source than the distribution of the water. Huge losses occur due to leakages of the pipelines, and due to illegal water connections tapping into these pipes. It is estimated that these two factors together account for the loss of 30 – 50%.

2009/10 marks a year of crisis because the monsoon rain of 2009 was very poor.

The supply per day is now about 3,450 million liters, with a demand gap of at least 400 million.  [all numbers taken from http://mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/FullArticle/CECO/nenvironmentNews_uUSTRE5B22IQ20091203?src=RSS-ECO]

Per capita supply is dropping to an alarming 90l per person and day – scientists seem to agree that 100l is the absolute minimum one person requires.
[graph to follow]

Water therefore is now rationed in Mumbai, with residential water supply cut by 15% and commercial water supply cut by 30% for this season. This means that taps are only running between one and three hours per day, and supply will be cut off entirely for one day per week in each neighborhood soon in order to improve water pressure in the other parts of the city.

There is an obvious need for people to store as much water as possible.  Most houses have tanks installed on the roof, or above the bathroom.  Many people also fill drums, metal kitchen vessels, or canisters during water hours. The results are ever lower water pressure during supply hours, and even actual fights, especially in places where several families share one tap.

Whoever can afford it can buy more water from water tankers that are now omnipresent in Mumbai.  The question, though, remains where they go to fill up.