ABSTRACT
Over the same years negotiations were underway with the World Bank to reform Karnataka's state level urban water governance and the demonstration zones in North Karnataka were being designed and implemented, efforts were also taking place to reform and privatize the public sector water utility responsible for service provision in Bangalore: the BWSSB. In this chapter I explore a small programme that was undertaken by the BWSSB over the years 2000–2007. This programme attempted to connect nearly 50 of Bangalore's slums to user-pays water services, and was the first attempt of its kind in the utility's history. The motivation for the programme was primarily commercial: to reduce non-revenue water from public taps and illegal connections, and to increase revenue from an expanded customer base. In some slum communities this required extending the piped network into previously unserviced locations. In others it involved removing public taps and ‘legalizing’ unmetered and unregistered connections. The efforts of the BWSSB have been applauded as a success, where the drive for commercial efficiency is regarded as compatible with the needs of the poor (see for example the ADB 2007). On the one hand, the BWSSB gets to reduce non-revenue water, increase income and improve its commercial viability. On the other hand, by being classified as ‘legal’ customers, people in slums secure greater customer rights and the capacity to demand accountability from their service provider. Theoretically, it is a win-win situation.
