The unprecedented mounting population pressure in the urban areas of India has brought the issue of efficient urban governance to the centre stage of policy planning. Large scale reforms are being ushered into the urban sector.

Metropolitan growth is emerging fast across urban India while the country's municipal institutions have neither the mandate nor the vision or the capacities for metropolitan governance. Reforms were initiated with the landmark 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA) in 1992 to provide political, functional and financial empowerment to urban local bodies. Simultaneously, this Act provided for formation of "metropolitan planning committees" (MPCs) for individual metropolitan areas.

Water delivery is the responsibility of the government. Thirty years ago many parts of Delhi received drinking water much of the time. Today no area receives water round the clock and worse, the water delivered is contaminated. In common with cities in many developing countries, industrialisation, rapid urbanisation and growing population estimated to be around 16 million, caused in part by migration from rural areas, have put pressure on Delhi's water resources. An increased demand for water and falling ground-water levels have only intensified this pressure.