A circular economy approach for sustainable water reuses in India: policies, practices and future prospects

Currently, India is experiencing serious freshwater shortages. A circular water reuse through advanced wastewater treatment technologies offers a realistic chance of meeting the public demand for adequate freshwater. One of the key problems is a lack of adequate infrastructure to clean wastewater and further reuse it in different sectors. Many Indian cities lack adequate resources to properly treat their wastewater, so they discharge untreated or partially treated wastewater into the rivers and lakes. This has a negative consequence on the people’s overall quality of life, as well as on the freshwater ecosystem. However, a major impediment is the absence of well-defined guidelines along with their implementation mechanism both from the central and state authorities. Across India, different states have enacted legislation to improve the infrastructure of wastewater treatment and ensure the subsequent reuse of treated wastewater. However, they are hard to put into practice because of the technological and operational challenges, poor cost recovery and the absence of adequate market-based incentives. There is a pressing need to reevaluate existing water conservation and wastewater treatment programs and regulations in light of a National Water Framework, which would serve as a guiding principle for central, state, and municipal authorities to follow when making decisions about water reuse. An effective pricing system for water is essential, as is adopting the circular economy strategy, both of which will aid in recovering and decreasing the cost of treating wastewater. Specific targets with clear requirements for water quality for recycled water at the national level serve as the basis of the outlined laws. This review concludes that effective and active implementation of water reuse projects should be backed by state laws and policies along with appropriate regulatory interventions in creating sustainable models of wastewater treatment and its reuse.