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A comprehensive approach involving infrastructure development, improved water management, and effective policies is required to ensure equitable and sustainable access to water for all
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Urban India is grappling with challenges that threaten water availability, quality, and distribution and equity. Despite increased reliance on groundwater, urban areas are facing an ever-widening gap between water demand and supply. Water losses are worsening, as a result of leakages caused by ageing pipelines, treatment plants, and distribution systems. Systemic inefficiencies are also exacerbating the non-revenue water (NRW)[1] quantum of utilities. Compounding the challenges are the unregulated discharge of untreated effluents, sewage, and agricultural runoffs which contaminate water bodies, making the treatment of water a household necessity in cities.
Water scarcity and pollution are increasing the prevalence of waterborne diseases, particularly in areas with inadequate access to safe drinking water and sanitation. With widespread disparities in water access, marginalised communities in informal settlements face even graver challenges in obtaining safe and affordable water for daily use. Inadequate drainage infrastructure has increased urban flooding, disrupting lives and livelihoods and posing risks to public health and safety.
Water losses are worsening, as a result of leakages caused by ageing pipelines, treatment plants, and distribution systems.
Changing rainfall patterns, droughts, and extreme weather events have strained water resources and infrastructure, further exacerbating urban water stress. Weak governance structures, inadequate regulatory frameworks, and institutional capacity constraints impede effective water management in urban areas, hindering integrated and sustainable solutions.
A comprehensive approach involving infrastructure development, improved water management, pollution control, better sanitation, and effective policies and regulations is required to overcome these challenges and ensure equitable and sustainable access to water for all.
The government of India framed the country’s first National Water Policy in 1987 and has updated it twice—in 2002 and 2013. The 1987 policy emphasised water conservation, efficient utilisation, stakeholder involvement, and prioritising drinking water, irrigation, and hydropower needs. The 2002 updated policy introduced concepts like river basin management, community and private sector participation, demand management, water pricing, and quality. The 2012 policy revision incorporated guidelines for emerging challenges like climate change adaptation, enhancing water availability through interbasin transfers and aquifer mapping, demand management strategies, water pricing regulation, water bodies and infrastructure conservation, integrated project planning with social and environmental considerations, and flood and drought management. It also stressed institutional reforms like river basin organisations and water disputes tribunals. The evolution of India’s water policies through the decades has thus aimed to provide a more holistic and integrated framework for sustainable water resources management.
Cities were required to formulate City Development Plans outlining their adherence to these benchmarks and reform agendas, with third-party monitoring to assess the implementation of reforms and the attainment of benchmarks to access JNNURM funds.
Urban water sector reforms also received a boost in 2005 through the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). JNNURM encouraged the states and cities to develop service level benchmarks (SLB) and enhance service delivery standards. It mandated specific reforms to achieve predetermined SLBs in crucial services, including water supply, to qualify for central assistance. They included parameters such as determining per-capita water supply, water metering, NRW reduction, cost recovery, and sewerage and stormwater networks. Cities were required to formulate City Development Plans outlining their adherence to these benchmarks and reform agendas, with third-party monitoring to assess the implementation of reforms and the attainment of benchmarks to access JNNURM funds. In 2015, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) prioritised SLBs for state and city utilities to secure mission financing.
AMRUT and the AMRUT 2.0 (2021) aim to enhance urban infrastructure and services, with a total outlay of INR 2.99 trillion, including a Central share of INR 76.7 billion. The mission encourages public-private partnerships and aligns with national programmes like ‘Housing for All by 2022’ and the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’. AMRUT mandates 11 reforms[2] for all participating cities and conducts capacity-building activities for Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
AMRUT’s phase 1 for 500 cities outlined a number of actions designed to enhance access to water and improve sewerage services through e-governance platforms like e-MAAS (e-municipality as a service), facilitating water and sewerage charges, and grievance redressal. Additionally, it sought to implement telescopic water charges with varying rates for individual and institutional assessments while ensuring the protection of vulnerable groups.[3]
AMRUT also considered reducing NRW to less than 20 percent across urban India by identifying and rectifying systemic inefficiencies through periodic audits and optimising resource use for water and sewage treatment plants. It also mandated the mission cities to prepare a roadmap to achieve a billing and collection efficiency of 90 percent; and prioritised rainwater harvesting at commercial, public, and new buildings to augment water conservation.
When AMRUT’s first phase ended in 2021, it had grounded projects worth INR 789 billion, carried out works on projects worth INR 477 billion, and completed projects worth INR 164.49 billion.
AMRUT 2.0 builds upon the initial AMRUT mandate to promote a circular water economy. It aims for universal coverage of tap-water supply to all households in statutory towns and sewerage/septage management, and make urban areas water-secure by developing City Water Balance Plans (CWBP) for a circular water economy focusing on recycling/reusing treated sewage, rejuvenating water bodies, and water conservation.
When AMRUT’s first phase ended in 2021, it had grounded projects worth INR 789 billion, carried out works on projects worth INR 477 billion, and completed projects worth INR 164.49 billion. It facilitated 970,000 water tap connections and 6,200,000 sewer household connections, independently and through convergence with other schemes. Against the targeted construction of 6,000,000 kilo-litres per day sewage treatment plants, AMRUT has achieved an STP capacity of 1,909,000 daily. It has eliminated 1,563 waterlogging spots against the targeted 2,804 and developed 3,500 acres of green permeable spaces and parks. As of December 2022, states had taken up projects worth INR 822.22 billion, of which INR 327.93 billion was spent on 4,676 completed projects. Projects amounting to INR 494.30 billion are at various stages of implementation. Rajasthan, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana are making progress in implementing and advancing the scheme.
The 60-percent gap in wastewater generation and treatment is one of the most significant challenges in urban India’s water sector. Technology barriers, including low technology readiness levels and poor reliability, robustness, resilience, and redundancy assessments, further limit the scope for circularity. Despite extensive lab-scale research on nutrient recovery, including biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), nitrogen and phosphorous, India’s conventional wastewater treatment plants are yet to achieve on-site scaling mainly because of prohibitive costs. High variability in wastewater characteristics, low nutrient concentrations, presence of inhibitory substances, skilled workforce shortage, and lack of infrastructure and support systems have also restricted their upscaling. The following are the most critical barriers to nurturing a circular water economy.
Despite extensive lab-scale research on nutrient recovery, including biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), nitrogen and phosphorous, India’s conventional wastewater treatment plants are yet to achieve on-site scaling mainly because of prohibitive costs.
Figure 1: The 6Rs of Circular Economy in the Urban Water Sector
Source: “Review of Circular Economy in urban water sector: Challenges and opportunities in India,” Journal of Environmental Management.
Overcoming these barriers with careful assessment, collaborative efforts, technological advancements, supportive policies with economic incentives, and public awareness is crucial for transitioning towards a circular water economy.
Cities in developing economies worldwide, including São Paulo (Brazil), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Dakar (Senegal), and Arequipa (Peru), are actively exploring circular economy solutions.18 Opportunities similarly abound for implementing a circular economy in India’s water sector. While urban India generates some 72,368,000 kilo litres per day of sewage annually, the operational capacity of STPs is only 26,869,000 kilo litres per day. A staggering 62.9 percent (45,499,000 kilo litres per day) of untreated wastewater is discharged into water bodies and percolates the earth, polluting precious groundwater reserves.
The central government must ensure that states help cities to transform the lack of comprehensive collection infrastructure into an advantage by establishing decentralised wastewater facilities, reducing reliance on centralised systems, and catalysing reclamation and recycling strategies central to a circular economy.
This scenario must be converted into an advantage for India to lay the foundations for a circular water economy. The central government must ensure that states help cities to transform the lack of comprehensive collection infrastructure into an advantage by establishing decentralised wastewater facilities, reducing reliance on centralised systems, and catalysing reclamation and recycling strategies central to a circular economy.
A circular economy will facilitate valuable resources such as water, energy, fertilisers, bioplastics, metals, and protein-based products, thereby generating revenue streams to support the transition towards circularity.
A circular water economy also promotes entrepreneurship and employment, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in decentralised “reduce, reuse, recycle, reclamation, and recovery” practices.
The Government of India must be more assertive in driving city-level reforms in the water sector. National policies and schemes like JNNURM have yet to achieve their promise primarily due to the city-level lack of intent, capacity (expertise and financial), and strict mandates for reforms. Therefore, AMRUT’s grant disbursal to states must be tied to concrete reforms while insisting on the financial and administrative empowerment of the ULBs, which remain under the quasi-control of the states and parastatals.
Given the limited success of the 74th Constitutional Amendment in decentralised city governance, the Centre must seriously consider a new Constitutional Amendment aimed at sweeping city-level reforms, metropolitan governance, and devolution of functions such as climate action, public health, and digital infrastructure to cities backed by upgraded laws and regulations that consider the new urban realities and aspirations of a 21st-century metropolitan governance framework for larger cities. Such commitment will ensure that cities have the necessary autonomy, resources, and accountability to implement sustainable water management practices and transition towards a circular economy in the water sector.
AMRUT’s grant disbursal to states must be tied to concrete reforms while insisting on the financial and administrative empowerment of the ULBs, which remain under the quasi-control of the states and parastatals.
SLBs, introduced as an eligibility criterion under JNNURM for water supply, sewerage, and solid waste management, must be prepared not merely to access central funds. They must be followed up with corresponding tangible action. Furthermore, the Centre must ensure that states regularly compensate the ULBs for the revenue losses caused by introducing Goods and Services Tax, which subsumed most of the ULB revenues.
Large metropolises and megacities generate the most volumes of wastewater. Given the high cost of wastewater treatment for reuse, all circular water economy interventions must focus on these high-use, high-waste urban geographies. Success here would mean extensively addressing the all-India problem.
Vikas Kumar Rana, Assistant Professor, Water Resources Engineering and Management Institute, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
This essay is part of a larger compendium “Policy and Institutional Imperatives for India’s Urban Renaissance”.
[1] Non-Revenue Water (NRW) is the difference between the volume of water fed into the water distribution system and the revenue generated from water billed to the end-users
[2] Reforms: E-Governance; Constitution and professionalisation of municipal cadre; Augmenting Double-Entry Accounting; Urban Planning and City Development Plans; Devolution of funds and functions; Review of Building by-laws; Setting up of financial intermediaries at State level; Municipal tax and fees improvement and Improvement in levy and collection of user charges; Credit rating; Energy and water audit; and the Swachh Bharat Mission. See: http://tcpo.gov.in/urban-missions.
[3] These are groups that face discrimination due to various factors such as structural issues, age, and disability. These include women, Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), children, the elderly, persons with disabilities, poor migrants, people living with HIV/AIDS, and sexual minorities. See: https://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1079/Vulnerable-Groups-in-India---Status,-Schemes,- Constitution-of-India.html.
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Vikas Kumar Rana, Assistant Professor, Water Resources Engineering and Management Institute, Faculty of Technology and Engineering, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. ...
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