Shifting dynamics in water management sector to meet water security

All India Institute of Local Self- Government, in collaboration with United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD), 3R Waste Foundation, and Urban Update, organised the 31st edition of its E-Dialogues Series on the topic “Role of 3R Circular Economy in Water Security of India”. The Webinar was organised as a pre-event of UNCRD’s 11th 3R and Circular Economy Forum, on March 10.

Dr Kulwant Singh, CEO, 3R Waste Foundation began by giving an introduction to the panel of speakers and welcoming them. The esteemed panel of speakers included CRC Mohanty, Environment Programme Coordinator, UNCRD; Avinash Mishra, Advisor, NITI Aayog; Dr Harpreet S Kandra, Federation University Australia; Dr Indira Khurana, Chairperson, Indian Himalayan River Basins Council (IHRBC); Rajneesh Sareen, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE); and Anupama Madhok Sud, Director and Editor, Water Digest.
Dr Kulwant Singh, mediator of the webinar, gave an introduction of the topic stating that we already know how water is needed to ensure food security, feed livestock, take up industrial production, and to conserve biodiversity and the environment. Even though India is not a water poor country, due to ever growing population of the nation, and due to sheer neglect and over exploitation, water is becoming a scarce commodity in India. He mentioned that the webinar will aim to address the whole issue of water security in India – which will include the needs for it, what are the challenges that we face, and how it can be attained with the approach of 3R and circular economy. The fact that India treats only 22 per cent of its waste water, underscores the need to ramp up its efforts to attain water security, he said.
CRC Mohanty, the first and the keynote speaker of the webinar, said that water becomes an important sector for India to work in as it aims to build clean, inclusive, and sustainable spaces in the next three decades. He established that any of the SDGs cannot be achieved without attaining water security. But water scarcity has already hit 40 per cent of the global population. He quoted that for every 1 degree Celsius increase in global temperature, additional 500 million people will face water scarcity, because the climate change alters water cycle, reduces the quantity of freshwater and water body surface area.
He mentioned how the concept of circular economy offers an environmentally friendly alternative growth model According to him, it is rather unfortunate that several countries continue to pursue a linear economy, where waste generated after one usage is seen as having no value and is dumped. He said that circular economy can ensure that no pollutant is spilled into fresh water and other water ecosystems. He added that circular economy or the move towards zero-waste society is a multi-stakeholder partnership involving governments, businesses, civil society, finance institutions, and research organisations. There is need to build strong triangular cooperation between the government, research and development institutions, and the private sector to successfully operationalise the concept of 3R and circular economy.
Avinash Mishra spoke on ‘The Reuse Opportunity’. Starting with a description of India’s water scenario, he mentioned that India consumes a quarter of the globally available groundwater, more than what US and China together consume. He noted how India continues to score low on treating sewage water, which could have been recycled in numerous ways. Moreover, 72 per cent of the sewage generated, remains untreated, and is disposed of in rivers, lakes, and other water bodies, thereby further degrading the quality of fresh water.
He elaborated on the basics of wastewater recycling and how waste water can be treated and its quality tailored to meet the planned reuse in a cost effective manner. He also traced the regulatory and policy regime introduced in India in the sector over the years – including Namami Gange Programme in 2014 and Individual State Water Reuse policies in states like Gujarat in 2018. Elaborating on the economic and financial benefits of recycling and reusing water, he stated that treated urban wastewater has the potential to irrigate an area ranging between 1-3 million hectares. Additionally, nutrient potential in wastewater can reduce fertilizer requirement and deliver an increase of about 30 per cent in the farmer’s income.
Dr Harpreet Kandra, in his presentation on ‘Common Sense for Water Security = Circular Economy’ talked about the gaps present in current water management sector and possible solutions. He talked about how the entire definition of water management has moved from the traditional ‘Litres per capita per day’ to a much broader concept including water security, energy and food security, quality of life, climate change, culture, and nature. He also compared the water billing systems of Chandigarh and Melbourne, wherein huge difference lies in the metering accuracy and the cost. He emphasized that individuals in India need to understand the concept of ‘Fit for Purpose’ along with accepting the idea of using treated wastewater. He noted that people in the real estate sector are still alien to the concept of developing energy and water efficient homes and buildings.
Dr Indira Khurana talked about community centered approaches for water security in rural India. She mentioned how the water insecurity results in poverty, hunger, breakdown in access to healthcare, mass migration, etc. She proposed that instead of large and heavy infrastructure, decentralised models that include equitable and nature nurturing, tapping traditional wisdom, and empowering people and involving them will go a long way in ensuring water security. She mentioned that every corner of India has a tradition of water harvesting suited to geography and expected rainfall, which needs to be revived and multiplied. She added that community involvement is necessary for rejuvenation of ecology, water bodies and nature.
The next speaker, Rajneesh Sareen, talked about resource efficiency and circularity in the built environment. He mentioned that the concept of green infrastructure involves ensuring circularity of water through water sensitive design and planning, sustainable urban drainage system, and rainwater harvesting. By investing in right design and sustainable materials, circularity of water can be ensured during the construction of those buildings, after people reside there, and even during the demolition of such buildings.
Anupama, the last speaker of the webinar gave presentation on upscaling the role of 3Rs towards water security through advocacy and stakeholder engagement. She said that in past few years, recycling and reusing have garnered a lot of attention in policy interventions and in many programs. However, she added that due to various bottlenecks like technological inadequacies and limitations, policy and law conversions, lack of financial support and incentives, lack of awareness among the stakeholders, etc., many interventions have yet not been able to produce desired results. She said that key challenges in the water sector include urbanisation, increasing demand and inefficient use of water in all sectors. According to her, the key to moving forward is the integrated approach for waste water management which should include adequate infrastructure, system upgradation, and sustainable financing system. She said that India will need to have a conducive policy approach, affordable technologies, and institutional framework and awareness building.
Dr Kulwant Singh provided concluding remarks and said that resources should be used for as long as possible by recovering and regenerating products and materials at the end of each service line therefore forming a closed loop. The life cycle of water can also be increased just like any other resource or material, thereby addressing the issue of dwindling water availability, he added.