Opinion: Addressing Urban Water Scarcity In India: Enhancing Sustainability And Resilience In City Water Systems
As the summer heat intensifies across Indian cities, the challenge of water scarcity looms larger than ever. Rapid urbanization and climate change exacerbate this challenge, making effective urban water management (UWM) imperative for ensuring water security for all. From scarcity and pollution to aging infrastructure and climate change induced impacts, UWM encompasses diverse challenges demanding innovative, sustainable solutions.
India’s flagship missions, such as the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Jal Jeevan Mission Urban (JJM-U), and Swachh Bharat Mission Urban (SBM-U), underscore the criticality of UWM. These programs highlight the urgent need to prioritize UWM to ensure the well-being of urban populations and the sustainability of resources.
Significant infrastructure investments in India are based on the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. As urban centers are grappling with increasing water demands, key infrastructural investments are being directed toward acquiring newer raw water sources located far from the city, impacting habitations near the water sources and also the urban water cycle, leading to unsustainable consumption. Cities are using more fresh water than ever before, and much of this water is wasted or left untreated. The unchecked disposal of untreated wastewater has transformed once-thriving rivers into polluted drains or nullahs. Thus, one of the key problems in UWM lies in the linear nature of water usage and disposal.
Consecutively, the investment in sanitation is focused on the construction of toilets and their access, neglecting the importance of conveyance and sewage treatment plants (STPs). Even if STPs are constructed, the treatment plants have multiple operational challenges. Also, there is a lack of connectivity between the household sewage system, sewerage network, and the installed treatment plants. Thus, the water sector in India lacks a holistic approach in terms of infrastructure planning, design, and implementation, with priority given to highly centralized systems in water and wastewater management. Centralized systems require larger space and resources, leading to heavy investments compared to decentralized systems, which involve inherent complexity. Thus, there is a need to strategically plan future infrastructure while considering the geographical and financial aspects of the region. IIT Bombay researchers have demonstrated many economic and environmental benefits of adopting decentralized systems for water management.
To address these challenges, researchers are exploring the concept of the Circular Economy (CE) in UWM. The CE framework aims to create a closed-loop system where water is efficiently used inside the system, minimizing the need for fresh water. This approach not only conserves water but also minimizes waste and enhances sustainability. IIT Bombay researchers have developed a CE framework for water management, which includes strategies such as: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reclaim, and Restore.
(Pradip Kalbar, Nikita Kakwani and Shweta Lokhande are from the Centre for Urban Science and Engineering (CUSE), IIT Bombay)
(Disclaimer: The views and the details expressed above are the writers’ analysis.)
