Performance Assessment for Urban Water and Sanitation (PAS)

The Performance Assessment System, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) since 2009, aims to develop better information on urban water and sanitation services (UWSS) through performance indicators and benchmarks. This action research was motivated by the lack of reliable and updated information about the operational and financial performance of UWSS. To address this, it was imperative to develop information systems for our cities such that when new investments are made by city and state governments, the impact on service delivery is measurable.

A Performance Assessment Framework was developed with an online portal for self-reporting by cities. This was aligned with the national Service Level Benchmarking initiative, and the Centre was designated as a National Technical Support Partner to MoUD for SLB.

Initially covering only Gujarat and Maharashtra, the online module has been extended to Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Assam and Jharkhand. Recently, all SMART cities have also been included, and the coverage now stands at 1000+ cities in India. PAS is now exploring links with AMRUT, SBM-II, Jal Jeevan Mission and PeyJal Sarvekshan. The Center for Water and Sanitation has also set up a Water Governance Hub in partnership with SIWI and NIUA to align our work with the re-emerging focus on water in national development discourse.