Water sustainability: Navigating challenges for a resilient future
Anil Seth
How do you view the current developments in water and wastewater management in India?
The freshwater supply is limited to approximately one percent of the total water on earth. India, with a sizeable 18% of the world's population, has less than 4% of world's freshwater resources. This leads to high water stress in many parts of the country. Almost 85% of extracted surface and groundwater is used for irrigation purposes. Another 7% goes towards domestic usage, while industries and other commercial use accounts for the remaining 8% of water.
According to government data, around 75% of rural households have access to drinking water facilities. The significant gaps of connecting remaining rural households with tap water connection and urban centres with continuous water supply of better quality and equitable distribution need to be addressed. Rapid urbanization and increased industrial production have led to increasing wastewater generation. Current estimates indicate that Indian cities generate around 72 billion litres of sewage per day apart from effluents coming out from the industries.
However, only around 37% of municipal wastewater is currently treated before disposal, indicative of a substantial gap in treatment infrastructure. Government schemes such as National Mission for Clean Ganga and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), alongside private sector participation are driving new development of wastewater treatment plants and sewerage networks across the country in an effort to bridge this gap. If implementation and operations proceed at the intended pace and scale, these initiatives aim to ramp up collection and treatment capacities considerably in coming years.
How are the developments progressing in drinking water segments?
India has witnessed significant growth of its rural water supply network over the last four years due to the Jal Jeevan Mission. Since its launch in 2019, this flagship scheme has successfully connected an additional 112 million rural households across the country with functional household tap water connections as of February 2024. The progress spans 180 districts so far, providing access to safe and adequate drinking water on a regular basis. Overall, the mission has enabled over 144.13 million rural households to get tap water connections out of the total 192.78 million households in rural India based on latest government data. With about two more years left in its implementation timeline, the scheme is on track to achieve the ambitious target of universal household water supply in Indian villages - a major leap towards water security in rural areas.
The urban India has also witnessed increased access to piped water connections with 24x7 water availability being implemented in several cities. Initiatives like the AMRUT and Smart Cities Mission have facilitated water infrastructure upgrades alongside reform of water utilities in urban areas through smart metering, reduction of losses and operational efficiency.
There are efforts to clean up and monitor surface and groundwater quality while rainwater harvesting initiatives being implemented to conserve and replenish water tables. The adoption of decentralized water treatment systems such as solar-powered filters is growing to provide cleaner drinking water access in remote areas lacking connectivity to centralized supply infrastructure. Additionally, new policies, institutional reforms, and investments in projects focused on improving the drinking water infrastructure and service delivery are being enabled across both urban and rural India.
How are the trends emerging in wastewater management sector?
Wastewater management in India has become a big concern with growing volume of municipal and industrial discharge. But the trends are emerging for decentralized and distributed wastewater treatment systems being more scalable and suited for Indian cities with space constraints.
Treating wastewater to be suitable for non-potable uses like industry, agriculture, gardening, etc. helps in addressing water scarcity and reduces discharge into water bodies. Leveraging on technology for operation and management, remote monitoring and data analytics to make systems more efficient, optimize energy use, ensure compliance and improve maintenance are on the rise. Government is promoting public-private partnership models in wastewater treatment infrastructure and operations to augment capacities.
There is a focus on resource recovery to generate useful byproducts - energy through biogas or sludge, nutrients as fertilizers, recycled water etc. Certainly, these trends align with principles of circular economy and India's development objectives.
What are the latest technology trends in water & wastewater management?
The water sector is making steady progress on digital transformation by embracing emerging technologies to enhance water infrastructure and service delivery. Smart water management using sensors, meters, real-time data, automation and analytics is being adopted for improved monitoring, efficiency, predictive maintenance and overall sustainability across the urban water value chain including water supply, treatment plant, pumping station, distribution network and wastewater system. The approach is enabling intelligent decision making, ensuring quality, minimizing losses and outages, and providing customer-centric services as India strive to achieve resilient, inclusive and efficient water management systems.
Pump Academy has been implementing advanced technological solution, iPUMPNET that utilize AI and IIoT to streamline the operation and maintenance of pumping stations. It helps by improving operational efficiency by 35%, reduce energy consumption by 25%, reduce life cycle cost by 45%, extend lifespan by 50% and saving nearly 5 GW of energy annually if implemented across all water pumping stations in India. It also supports in reducing almost 3.06 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually, a significant step towards environmental sustainability.
What are the major sustainability initiatives happening in water sector?
Water sustainability has become an important priority in India as rising demands, climate risks and supply uncertainties pose complex challenges to securing long-term availability across sectors. Focused initiatives are being undertaken for building resilient and efficient water systems. These include: adoption of circular water systems enabling 'zero liquid discharge' through reuse and recycling especially in industries: energy transition to renewable sources like solar, wind and biogas to power the intensive water infrastructure; promotion of climate-smart irrigation techniques and agricultural practices to prevent overexploitation; widespread deployment of water conservation technologies like low-flow fixtures, sensors, efficient appliances etc; rainwater harvesting to reduce usage; and partnerships across sectors alongside awareness campaigns targeting responsible consumption, leakage reduction and long-term sustainability.
What is your vision on water security and the way forward?
India is facing significant water challenges with issues like increasing population, climate change, rising pollution, demand-supply gaps, and poor accessibility. However, India can build a water-secure future through concerted efforts across key areas.
It has to adopt technology driven approach for water management leveraging automation, sensors, IoT, satellite data, AI/ML to optimize water distribution, minimize losses and ensure quality. It should embrace circular water management approach focused on extensive recycling and reuse, resource recovery, decentralized approach creating localized water supply systems, along with well-defined water policies integrating usage norms, pricing, incentives for efficiency, strict compliance, public-private collaboration and guidelines for domestic, industrial and agricultural usage.
My vision is that applying these principles, India can ensure water security for all citizens supporting equitable and sustainable growth. The path forward is undoubtedly challenging, but by enabling intelligent, resilient and participatory water management systems, we can lead the way towards better water security.
