Helping Indian cities choose sustainable solutions for wastewater treatment
In 2021, India’s wastewater treatment plant installed capacity only met 44 percent of the country’s estimated wastewater generation, and only 38 percent of these treatment plants were classified as compliant with the relevant pollution control standards for discharge.² Non-treated wastewater finds its way to water bodies, compromising water security and impacting their health. The AMRUT 2.0 Mission aims to improve wastewater and sludge management across 500 cities and promote reuse with new wastewater collection, conveyance, and treatment infrastructure.
Through stakeholder consultation and research, we identified opportunities to improve the selection of wastewater treatment solutions for different cities so that investments in treatment systems are more likely to meet local needs, achieve their intended benefits, and be viable to maintain into the future.
A wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) treatment options tool was developed to help decision-makers consider alternative, fit-for-purpose treatment solutions for different scenarios, comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each option. The tool will enable Indian cities to invest in solutions appropriate for local conditions and priorities and helps facilitate discussion between stakeholders and decision-makers. In the long term, it aims to improve treatment plant longevity and help cities direct investments toward impactful interventions to protect water bodies and enable safe and reliable water circularity.
Educating water practitioners, protecting communities and the environment Effective management, recycling, and reuse of wastewater are essential for achieving water circularity. It is crucial to understand key factors such as asset operating costs, asset lifespan, and the adequacy of water quality monitoring and public health protection measures in the production and supply of recycled water.
To build the capacity of senior government leaders and managers, field engineers, and operations staff at WWTPs, we developed the ‘Used Water Management – Planning, Design, Construction and O&M’ course to equip urban water practitioners with an improved understanding of challenges and how to address them through water-circular approaches.
The course provides foundational knowledge for city water practitioners to help them understand wastewater management, water contaminants, and good practice frameworks for safe and reliable wastewater and recycled water management. To date, this learning course has been delivered to over 1,000 Indian bureaucrats and engineers working in wastewater management.
Rejuvenating India’s water bodies
India’s water bodies are integral for water security, urban greening and cooling, and for many cultural and religious practices fundamental to community well-being. Rejuvenating urban water body health is a highly visible community issue and a priority for The Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who launched the ‘Amrit Sarovar’ mission, which aims to rejuvenate water bodies and connect citizens to them.
We produced an advisory framework to guide city actions for improving water body health, now published by MoHUA as a reference for urban local bodies under the AMRUT 2.0 Mission. A second advisory document focuses on nature-based treatment solutions, supporting practitioners in developing holistic, context-specific strategies for water body rejuvenation.
The guidance includes information on tools and techniques to address typical challenges and water body rejuvenation strategies with cost-effective solutions. Capacity building of cities in many states is currently underway to broaden their awareness of underlying pressures impacting water bodies and how to manage them.
Delivering water circularity
Water circularity is the overarching theme of the AMRUT 2.0 Mission, which focuses on integrating wastewater into the city’s water portfolio and transforming WWTPs into resource recovery facilities. These facilities aim to recover water, energy, and nutrients. The mission emphasizes holistic urban water management to address the challenges posed by climate change and a growing population.
Efficient operation and maintenance (O&M) of WWTPs is critical for sustainable wastewater and recycled water management. This ensures the continual production of water that is fit-for-purpose for direct non-potable and indirect potable uses. To assist urban local bodies and parastatals in delivering wastewater services, we have prepared a model wastewater treatment plant O&M bid document.
This document provides guidance on key aspects of an O&M bid, including project scope, eligibility and qualification criteria, conditions of contract, procurement process, environmental health and safety, asset management, and plant automation. It is designed to support water utilities in developing comprehensive, tailored bid documents that incorporate proactive asset maintenance, digital tool deployment, quality management and compliance for liquid and sludge management, staff training and capacity building, and optimization of consumables. This guidance is expected to benefit over 500 urban local bodies.
Driving high-performance water recycling
The Jal Hi AMRIT (JHA) (water is nectar) program is a key component of the AMRUT 2.0 reforms, offering performance-based incentives for states and union territories to efficiently operate and maintain WWTPs. The program has a capital outlay of AUD $260 million in its current phase.
One of the primary objectives of the JHA program is to enhance the recycling and reuse of treated wastewater. Various users, particularly industries, can significantly contribute to water circularity by utilizing this treated water. Participating WWTPs are awarded clean water credits based on a star rating through a comprehensive evaluation process.
We led the design of a comprehensive framework to field-assess existing WWTPs across 25 States and Union Territories, including a strategy to transform these WWTPs into resource recovery facilities producing high-quality recycled water for indirect potable reuse and biogas for energy production, therefore transitioning toward energy neutrality while creating sustainable and climate-resilient operations.
These incentive credits assigned through the program are intended to improve the efficiency of WWTPs through treatment technology upgrades, the implementation of renewable energy generation, online monitoring, and capacity building. The first round of funding, amounting to approximately AUD $100 million, was released between March and May 2025 across more than ten states.
Empowering women in sustainable water management
MoHUA introduced a sub-program under AMRUT 2.0 called AMRUT Mitra (water friends) in February 2024. The program highlights the critical role of women as ‘water friends,’ emphasizing their involvement in sustainable water management and community engagement.
AMRUT Mitra is a women-led initiative and is being implemented in partnership with the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) of MoHUA. It aims to boost women’s self-help group (SHG) socioeconomic status while aligning with AMRUT 2.0, raising awareness, and fostering community impact. The program is being implemented on a pilot basis, with AUD $27 million in funding to be allocated to approximately 1,500 projects selected on a first-come, first-served basis. There are currently 582 approved projects funded with AUD $9.1 million across 25 states, with 236 SHGs onboarded.
We played a critical role in advancing AMRUT Mitra’s objectives in Haryana and Delhi, monitoring program implementation, supporting city selection, and engaging stakeholders to identify projects and SHGs.
1 https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/india/brief/world-water-day-2022-how-india-is-addressing-its-water-needs
2 https://cpcb.nic.in/status-of-stps/
