The United Nation (UN) wastewater assessment programme reports and wastewater management models are its independent publications. Central Pollution Control Board from time to time carries out the assessment of quantity of sewage generation and its treatment capacity availability in urban centers in association with the State Pollution Control Boards/ Pollution Control Committees and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). As per the CPCB report published in 2021, sewage generation from urban areas is estimated at 72,368 MLD, whereas the total treatment capacity available is 31,841 MLD (44% of the sewage generation). State wise details of sewage generation and treatment installed capacity of urban centers in the country is at Annexure.

As such waste water is the subject of Urban Local Bodies(ULBs). Already some of the ULBs in Surat, Chennai etc have taken steps to reuse the treated waste water for industrial non potable purposes. Certain state governments such as Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand etc have adopted policies for reuse of treated waste water. States like Bihar, Uttrakhand, Karnatakaetc have started reuse of water from sewage treatment plants for agriculture purposes.

The National Water Policy-2012 mandates recycle and reuse of water as general norm and advocates treatment to specified standards before reuse of waste water. It provides for properly planned tariff system to incentivize reuse of treated water in various sectors including industries, agriculture and others. It mentions that reuse of urban waste water from kitchen and bathrooms, after primary treatment should be encouraged in toilets ensuring no human contact.

Besides, a National Framework on Reuse of Treated Waste Water has also been adopted by Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation. The framework will be a guiding document for the States to formulate their Reuse Water Policy and implement the same in a time bound manner. A draft policy template has also been developed as part of the framework to aid the preparation of reuse policy by the respective State Governments.

Arth Ganga initiatives being implemented as part of Namami Gange programme inter-alia has one of component for monetisation and reuse of treated waste water for irrigation and industrial purposes. Various interventions are considered under Arth Ganga component for reuse of treated waste water by entering into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with various Ministries/Departments/Public Sector Undertaking (PSUs) and implementation of actions plans thereof.

Government of India through the Power Tariff Policy 2016 has also mandated all Thermal Power Plants to use the treated sewage water from Sewage Treatment Plants(STPs) situated within 50 kms radius for non-potable purposes.

Under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) 2.0, launched on October 1, 2021, with a view to achieve garbage free status, which also involves a component of used water management to ensure that no untreated waste water is discharged into the environment, all used water is safely contained, transported, and treated, along with maximum reuse of treated used water, in all cities with less than 1 lakh population. The cities with population more than 1 lakh are provisioned to be funded under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 scheme of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) for used water management. The treated used water is recommended to be used for flushing toilets, gardening, agriculture, horticulture, industrial, municipal, and water body rejuvenation. 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Shri Bishweswar Tudu in a written reply in Rajya Sabha 19.12.2022.

ANNEXURE

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1383 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 19^TH DECEMBER, 2022 ON ‘WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT’

State-Wise Sewage Generation and Installed Treatment Capacity of Urban Centers