MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING
AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CHEMEICALS AND FERTILIZERS
(RAO INDERJIT SINGH)
(a) and (b) Yes. Water happens to be a limited resource whereas the demand for the same is increasing with time. Increasing population, rapid industrialization, depletion of ground water source and increasing water pollution levels put pressure on the available water resources and pose challenge for sustainable management of water. The Recycled and Reuse of water after treating for Drinking and Non-Drinking purposes presents itself as a potential solution for augmenting water supply in the Cities, on a sustainable basis.
(c) Yes. NITI Aayog has developed a Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) in June 2018 which aims to track the performance of the States/UTs vis-à-vis Demand and supply management of water, so that timely corrective measures can be undertaken. The CWMI is an annual exercise based on 28 key performance indicators carrying 100 marks under 9 sub-domains. Out of the total 100 marks, 10 marks have been ascribed to ‘Urban Water Supply and Sanitation’ and 15 marks are allocated to “Policy and Governance”.
(d) and (e) Yes. Recycling and reuse has been widely practiced in Singapore, where almost the entire water is recycled for reuse. Such an approach would not only reduce the pressure on other water sources, but would also offer a sustainable solution for water resource management. However, this requires extensive Capacity Building of the City Managers and other stakeholders. Singapore has successfully been able to transform their urban waterscape over the last four decades, and their expertise would be a great opportunity for us to learn and develop recycled water as part of sustainable and diverse water portfolio, by customizing it in the Indian context.
In the year 2015-17, NITI Aayog had collaborated with Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) under which capacity building programmes were arranged for participants from seven States. As an outcome of the same, Baseline Framework for Water Recycling was also prepared and shared with all the States/UTs. This was appreciated by the States/UTs who also expressed their interest to participate in such capacity building programmes in future. Keeping the same in view, NITI Aayog has again entered into an MoU with SCE to launch the second phase of Urban Management Programme (UMP). The MoU for the same was signed in May 2018.
The second phase of the UMP focussing on the thematic area of “Capacity Building Programme in Urban Management (Water Recycling and Reuse)" was launched on 26th November 2018 in New Delhi followed by a two day capacity building workshop. As per the agreement under the collaboration document, three more workshops on various aspects of the theme would follow in the next one year including an exposure visit to Singapore and also a one day Review and Closing Programme. The collaboration document also envisages that the participating States would submit their proposal for undertaking a Pilot Project for Recycle and Reuse of Water for any of the cities in their State. As a part of the Programme, the best proposal received for Recycle and Reuse of water in a city shall be selected for becoming the pilot project and for which handholding would be done by the experts in developing a model project document which is likely to be generic enough to be applied to various States/Cities across India. Eight States/UTs have been selected for the Programme through a challenge method.
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