Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2018

Indian Politics & Policy has laid this pipeline. He said that not drinkable but not less than drinking quality. Means, there is still some inadequacy in this. NM: But this is a good phrase—not drinkable but not less than drinking quality. AK: Not worth to drink but not less than the quality of drinking water ... not drinkable means, there is no acceptance in the heart ... UK: There still some minor particles ... NM: So you believe that there is some ... UK: Means, my heart says there is some defect in this water ... Em: Madam, if one will not get water then one may drink this also ... This discussion clearly shows that the bus depot employees have a detailed knowledge of categories of water that are provided to them and that the researchers are co-producing this knowledge through their questions as well. The employees conduct a personal evaluation of each based on daily contact and some usage. Their knowledge is an interactive and cumulative knowledge generated from experience and some understanding of the biological and microbial processes by which the wastewater is treated. They are co-producing their knowledge in some measure of interaction with the wastewater engineers and water scientists active across the street in the government sewage treatment facility. This detailed conversation helps to show that apart from the critical need to find sources of water to clean the buses, experiential learning is most important in generating acceptability of using this treated water. In addition, users are able to distinguish the qualities of various water supplies provided to them based on experiential practices such as sniffing and tasting. This is the practical knowledge that produces the choice for sustained usage. While a survey of literature by Fielding, Dolnicar, and Schultz (2018) found that acceptance of recycled water drops with increasing human contact, this case shows that the consumers’ experience of using the treated water for a specific purpose (cleaning buses) and seeing and smelling its quality are strong motivators for the functionality or the “success” of the project. 12 This depot is a public–private partnership between Delhi Transport Corporation and TATA Motors. The public sector entity and the private company that together run the depot pay three different rates for these three categories of water. They pay Rs. 7 per kiloliter for the STP pipeline water and Rs. 140 per kiloliter for the STP tanker water, which are both used for washing. Before the STP pipeline water supply started, they were drawing up groundwater with an electric pump. The estimated cost of the electrical pumping roughly prices groundwater at around Rs. 10 per kiloliter. In theory, there is savings to the partnership by shifting from groundwater to the new pipeline water from the pilot STP. 13 This case mentions the motivating roles of the Central Groundwater Authority (CGWA) and NGT in ordering large water users to discontinue use 102

Indian Politics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2, Fall 2018 | Page 105