Urban India's water story is beset with contradictions.Municipalities in India supply much more water than those in Europe and North America, shows data of the Union Ministry of Urban Development. In several cases, it is twice or thrice the European standard of 130-140 litres per capita daily. Yet water is supplied in most Indian cities for a few hours on an average day, at best, not to mention cities that give residents water once every few days. Urban India needs about 50 billion litres of water each day. The amount supplied cannot be estimated most water treatment plants either do not have water meters or have defunct ones. Municipal water supply reaches about 82 per cent of India's urban folk. But the piplelines leak, and a lot of water is lost between the supplier and the consumer. Reasons? One, most municipal bodies are cash strapped; they just do not have the money to replace broken pipes. Two, pipeline networks are poorly planned. And three, corrupt Cover Story Say