WATER – OUR MAPS
Per Capita Water Supply (2011 and 2041)
Taking data from an internal MetroWater document, Transparent Chennai has used maps to visualize water supply inequalities across the urban local bodies (ULBs) that will soon be incorporated into the Chennai Corporation.
We took the total number of administration regions within the expanded Chennai Corporation and divided this into quartiles. Using different colors, we show the government-provided water supply (measured in litres per capita per day—lpcd) for the lowest to the highest quartile.
As we can see, there is not necessarily a strong positive correlation between higher water supply and proximity to Chennai Corporation. For example, when comparing two municipalities, we can find light colored areas (low lpcd) that border Chennai Corporation and darker areas (higher lpcd) that are farther away. This forces us to ask, what is accounting for this difference? And what alternative private sources are people using?
Also to note, the highest quartile of regions ranges from 47 to 90 lpcd, a large difference. For more detail, clicking on the region will provide the exact lpcd (provided by MetroWater) and the source of this government-provided water. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that while MetroWater publicly claims to provide an average of 135 lpcd for the Chennai Corporation, in its internal document, it recognizes that this amount is actually much lower, 90 lpcd.
How can this map be used in the future? Is there a way to visualize socio-economic data and overlay it with this water supply data? This would allow us to see if there is a relationship between, for example, average per capita income and water supply.
When we look at MetroWater’s planned future (2041) per capita water supply, we see that it aims to bring averages to at least 105 lpcd. However, there is still variation, a range of 105 to 155 lpcd. Why, if these ULBs are going to be incorporated into the same larger Corporation administration and receive MetroWater services, is there planned variation in MetroWater supply? How are they making these decisions?
Projected Water Demand (2041)
Using the MetroWater data, we visualized in a similar way, the projected water demand in the future. MetroWater projects future demand based on population growth rates (provided for by the City Development Plan) and a water supply that ranges from 105 lpcd to 155 lpcd. On the above map, we can see what areas will experience significant future water demand. Again, because there is such a large range within the highest quartile (the darkest color), click on the exact region to find the water demand.
In the above map, we have also visualized the water supply gap between future demand (2041) and present supply (2011).
Contact Information
At Transparent Chennai, we believe in good governance and accountability–that it should be easy for citizens to contact and access those responsible for basic services like water supply. On this map, clicking on a region will provide government names and phone numbers to call for help or questions.
MetroWater services the Chennai Corporation and contact information is for MetroWater zone/area engineers. As of July 2011, the ULBs along the Corporation’s periphery are still responsible for the operations and maintenance of their own water supply, even if they receive some MetroWater supply. Therefore, the contact information we provide is for local authorities.
Taking data from an internal MetroWater document, Transparent Chennai has used maps to visualize water supply inequalities across the urban local bodies (ULBs) that will soon be incorporated into the Chennai Corporation.
We took the total number of administration regions within the expanded Chennai Corporation and divided this into quartiles. Using different colors, we show the government-provided water supply (measured in litres per capita per day—lpcd) for the lowest to the highest quartile.
As we can see, there is not necessarily a strong positive correlation between higher water supply and proximity to Chennai Corporation. For example, when comparing two municipalities, we can find light colored areas (low lpcd) that border Chennai Corporation and darker areas (higher lpcd) that are farther away. This forces us to ask, what is accounting for this difference? And what alternative private sources are people using?
Also to note, the highest quartile of regions ranges from 47 to 90 lpcd, a large difference. For more detail, clicking on the region will provide the exact lpcd (provided by MetroWater) and the source of this government-provided water. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that while MetroWater publicly claims to provide an average of 135 lpcd for the Chennai Corporation, in its internal document, it recognizes that this amount is actually much lower, 90 lpcd.
How can this map be used in the future? Is there a way to visualize socio-economic data and overlay it with this water supply data? This would allow us to see if there is a relationship between, for example, average per capita income and water supply.