Circular Water Management Essential for Water Security

 

*Dr. Satbir Singh Kadian calls for a strong policy framework at ‘Urban Adda 2026’*

Chandigarh, October 6: ‘Urban Adda 2026’ was organised by Gurujal at the Jacaranda Hall of India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The event, themed “Circularity for Water Security,” saw detailed deliberations on how Indian cities can manage water as a circular resource rather than merely as a utility, promoting water conservation, reduced consumption, greater reuse and groundwater recharge to address challenges such as water scarcity and flooding.

During the event, Dr Satbir Singh Kadian, EIC-cum-Principal Director, HIRMI, put forward several key suggestions for moving the country from unregulated water extraction towards circular water use. He said water conditions vary across regions, as Gurugram shows: groundwater levels at urban sites fell from 0.08 metres to 2.34 metres within a single year. Therefore, regulators cannot rely on a single nationwide model and need to work across three key structural dimensions.

On the first dimension, Dr Satbir Singh Kadian called for re-engineering economic signals and incentives. He said circular water use would not become the default option as long as fresh groundwater remains cheaper to extract while treated wastewater carries high treatment and transportation costs. He called for higher tariffs on commercial and industrial water extraction and increased groundwater cess. At the same time, instead of mandating expensive tertiary treatment standards for all uses, “fit-for-purpose” quality standards should be adopted to promote the use of secondary-treated water for urban green spaces, construction, irrigation of non-edible crops and lake restoration.

He also called for measures such as Viability Gap Funding (VGF) and priority lending for transmission pipelines.

On the second dimension, he emphasised learning from successful models across states. The PPP anchor-offtaker models in Nagpur and Chennai have demonstrated how industrial demand can turn sewage into a source of municipal revenue. The decentralised treatment models in Delhi and Bengaluru show that localised treatment can reduce transportation costs and directly recharge local aquifers.

Citing Haryana as an example, Dr Satbir Singh Kadian said the state’s Integrated Water Resources Action Plan (IWRAP) and Haryana Water Resources Authority (HWRA) provide an integrated framework. Infrastructure is being developed in Haryana for the utilisation of 326 MLD of treated water from 27 STPs, with projects for 20 STPs already completed.

Besides, under the Water Secure Haryana Project, supporting infrastructure has been proposed for the reuse of 171 MLD of treated water from four STPs.

As the third dimension, Dr. Satbir Singh Kadian stressed the need for key regulatory interventions. He said monitoring should move beyond merely ensuring discharge standards to establishing end-use standards for construction, cooling, horticulture and recharge. Reuse should be made mandatory at the tendering and procurement stage of new STPs, while decentralised STPs should be promoted over centralised plants, as transporting water back from large plants can be considerably more expensive.

He also stressed the need for city-specific plans for Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and for establishing dedicated state-level water reuse bodies.

Concluding his remarks, Dr Satbir Singh Kadian said future water regulation should focus not merely on counting the number of infrastructure projects created, but on achieving actual water outcomes.