Reinventing Township Model to Conserve Water

Implementation of measures pertaining to water conservation and zero-waste water discharge in the country are a continuous process and it is the constant endeavor of the Government to strive towards water conservation and zero-waste water discharge in both the urban and rural areas of the country. Government of India in 2015 launched Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) in 500 selected cities (485 cities including 15 merged cities) across the country covering around 60% of the Urban Population. AMRUT focuses on development of basic urban infrastructure in the selected cities in the sectors of Water Supply; Sewerage & Septage Management; Storm Water Drainage; Non-Motorised Public Transport; and Permeable Green Spaces & Parks.

To carry forward the objective of universal coverage of water supply from 500 cities to about 4,900 statutory towns, AMRUT 2.0 has been launched on 1st October 2021. AMRUT 2.0 focuses on making the cities ‘self-reliant’ & ‘water secure’. Providing universal coverage of sewerage & septage management in 500 AMRUT cities is other major focus of AMRUT 2.0. Under AMRUT 2.0, rejuvenation of water bodies and wells is one of main components. The admissible elements include harvesting the rainwater through storm water drains into water body (which is not receiving sewage/ effluent).

National Water Policy, 2012 advocates rainwater harvesting and de-salinization in urban and industrial areas, wherever techno-economically feasible, to increase availability of utilizable water.

Further, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has also formulated guidelines for the States to adopt measures suitable to local conditions, such as Unified Building Bye Laws (UBBL) of Delhi, 2016, Model Building Bye Laws (MBBL), 2016 and Urban and Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines, 2014. Adequate focus has been given on requirement of rainwater harvesting and water conservation measures in these guidelines.

In order to make urban water management and urban river management as important aspect of urban planning, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) in association with National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) has started River Cities Alliance (RCA) in November, 2021 with 30 cities on banks of River Ganga, now has 142 river cities as members.

RCA is a platform for building capacities of municipal officials and stakeholders by way of a platform for sharing best practices in urban water management like Catch The Rain, treating sewage, reuse of treated water etc. Under this, the officials are trained in preparing urban river management plans for protection of water bodies in India.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Shri Bishweswar Tudu in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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PK