08/04/2019 - Governance

KEY POINTS

·         Indian cities have witnessed unprecedented growth over the past few decades that, in turn, has had a drastic impact on water availability. Depleting water resources, changing climate and unsustainable water cycle management are exacerbating the water situation.

·         Many Indian cities have witnessed water exigencies in the form of severe drought and flood. Around 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress. By 2030, India’s demand for water might be double the available supply.

·         Indian cities need to diversify their water resources portfolio. For instance, harnessed rainwater at the catchment scale, collected through a drainage network and stored in 17 reservoirs before being treated and supplied, is one of the four water sources of Singapore.

·         Recycled water presents itself as an important component of the water portfolio. It is a climate-change resilient water resource, which can be reliably produced using advanced treatment technologies.

·         In Singapore, recycled water is called NEWater, wherein used water is treated using advanced treatment technologies (combination of micro and ultra-filtration followed by reverse osmosis and UV disinfection) to ensure that the recycled water complies with the highest water quality standards, and is fit for human consumption.

·         Supported by strong governance, Singapore’s National Water Agency (NWA) judiciously manages the price for its water services, and proactively invests in planning for the future next drop of water.

·         Indian cities often fail to anticipate water-related issues and are left to react to these. With ageing assets, water theft and non-revenue water, our cities cannot continue to dole out water subsidies, which eventually lead to paucity of funds that could have helped upgrade the water infrastructure.

·         Such cost recovery will help us integrate digital technology into water management. The availability of smart metres, water-efficient devices and infrastructure monitoring devices to plug any leakages will be useful to sustain operations and maintenance.

Mater planning of cities includes the remodeling of old cities and modelling of new cities.Water management is one of the components of Master planning of cities.

Importance of water management model in master planing model of cities :

Niti Aayog through Composite Water Management Index predicted that 21 cities in India will run out of ground water by the end of 2020.Already cities like Chennai,Hyderabad are facing severe water problems making life difficult for residents.Urban citizens are not able to complete their day to day activities on time.As cities contribute around 70-75% of the country's Gross domestic product,the untimely completion of tasks by urban population result in slower growth rate.Ground water depletion and pollution of ground water are the major concerns which can be addressed through proper water management models.

Singapore water management model which illustrates proper water management plan,helps to overcome water crisis in Indian cities too.

Illustration :

Water management includes :

1.Rain water harvesting model : Construction of Sumps and collection of roof top water through filter media.Planning rain water harvesting pits in permeable soil areas helps to increase the ground water table.

2.Recycled water model : Planning proper collection of the water used by households in large tanks and filter this water using reverse osmosis and UV-filtering methods.Filtered water can be sent back to the households for daily usage purposes helps in decreasing the wastage of water.

3.Desalination plants across Coastal cities : Sea water is abundantly available on the earth and coastal cities like Chennai facing huge water crisis,can tap in sea water for drinking and daily needs through constructing huge desalination plants

4.Drip Irrigation in Urban Areas : Drip Irrigation which is observed in rural areas can be brought to fields which are present in the outskirts of cities saves a lot of water.

Government of India under Smart City Mission started remodeling of cities,can implement the above mentioned water management plan which is a major component in town planning to accelerate economic growth and overall development of the people 

Please review.