When the water policy of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was approved in 2001, water was widely viewed as one of the greatest global challenges. The challenge was accentuated by, among others, population growth, urbanization, and changes in climatic patterns.

The Water Rate is levied for supply of water from a public or a private system with a view to ensure equitable water distribution, efficiency of the irrigation system and its management. It has been attracting attention of Planners, Policy makers and Researchers in India in view of its important role in regulating the water use within the reach and resources of the users.

Groundwater supplies 60 per cent of the water for irrigation in India and 85 per cent of rural water supply relies upon groundwater. Accordingly, poverty reduction, rural development and sustainable food production in India rely upon the long-term availability of groundwater in sufficient quantity and quality. Efficient groundwater resource management is therefore of high priority in India.

There is a surge of privatisation in the water sector in India. It is being justified in the name of bringing in new investments and increasing efficiency to address the myriad problems of the water sector. At the same time, a series of restructuring programs in many states are attempting to reform the water sector and transform it into a fully commercial and market operation.

The purpose of this handbook is to help civil society and those working on water and sanitation issues to adopt a human rights-based approach to advocacy, so that they can improve water and sanitation service regulation and provision at international, national and local levels.

The demand for basic infrastructure and services in Indian cities has increased phenomenally due to rapidly growing
populations. Such unmet demands often adversely affect the quality of urban life, the economic productivity, as well as the
process of sustainable development. The main purpose of this brief is to highlight the problems involved in improving access to

This document reports provides an action plan to implement water reforms in Orissa to address the imminent water challenges of the state. The report provides an overview of the water challenges of Orissa which include growing competition for water resources from industrial and urban development, in a variable hydrological environment.

This paper attempts to give a spatial and temporal overview of water management in India. It traces how people and the successive regimes made choices across space and time from a wide range of water control and distribution technologies.