India, with a rapidly growing population and urbanized landscape, is grappling with an increasing gap between water demand and supply—thereby compounded sewage generation. This water risk is intrinsically linked with climate change that is disrupting the rainfall patterns, and posing serious threats and vulnerabilities for communities across all regions in India. Given this backdrop, it is imperative to re-evaluate India’s water resource management scenario. The safe reuse of treated water is emerging as an alternative solution to the growing water stress and associated challenges. It is worth mentioning here that the advanced treatment technologies enable in recycling the wastewater for various non-potable uses, such as irrigation, industrial processes, and toilet flushing.

This month, our cover story on safe reuse of treated water (SRTW) highlights that this sustainable approach has the potential to address multiple issues: (a) the gap between water demand and supply, (b) contamination from untreated sewage discharge, and (c) the unpredictability of water availability due to erratic rainfall. As India faces increasing environmental challenges from climate change and dwindling resources, effective water management is crucial. SRTW decreases our need for freshwater for non-potable purposes, reduces water stress by bridging the gap between water demand and supply, and helps us mitigate the impacts of climate change on water availability.

To support the cause, the Government of India has various flagship programmes to provide technical and financial assistance to state governments. The Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 scheme offers significant opportunities to promote and implement safe reuse of treated water (SRTW) across India  indicating a proactive step ahead for addressing future water needs and envisaging  circular economy in water sector.

However, for effective implementation of SRTW in a city, a pre-feasibility assessment should be carried out, which maps the supply and demand of water, identifying multiple roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, and assessing the wastewater management. At the subnational level, a greater emphasis must be placed on developing state-specific policies and guidelines for an increased uptake of the safe reuse of treated water approach and its enforcement. Transitioning to a circular economy in the water sector and ensuring water security in India calls for large-scale adoption of sustainable approach briefed above.  Consequently, this will result in charting out the pathway for self-sustenance of sewage management assets and eventually help in building financial resilience.  

I am confident that the articles in this edition of TerraGreen will strongly resonate with our readers. Your insightful suggestions have significantly enhanced the publication, and I encourage you to keep sharing your valuable ideas and feedback.