The India Water Week 2015 was organized under the overall coordination of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation from 13 to 17 Jan 2015. During the water week, Global Water Partnership organised a one day training session on Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) in collaboration with India Water Partnership (IWP) and WAPCOS Ltd, which was helpful in setting the scene for introducing an integrated urban water management approach in India. The workshop was successful and saw high enthusiasm from the representatives of the government, different organisations and partner organisations - International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), Taru Research, Development Alternatives, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) etc. Several key interventions highlighting the importance of integrated approach to water management were made during the workshop, including Keynote speeches from Dr Amarjith Singh, Secretary to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Dr T.V.N. Prasad Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Many case studies and challenges in India for IUWM were also presented by Dr Suresh Rohilla, Programme Director, CSE; Dr Manu, Taru Research and Mr Francois Brikke, Senior Network Officer, GWPO.
Key messages from the workshop:
- The urban water management situation in India is very dire and there is a lot of scope and opportunity for GWP and its local partners to carry out activities that can make a significant difference
- The IUWM approach which considers holistic management of water resources and views “water cycle as one” can provide very solutions for better water management in India.
- The good news is that there is a very strong political will in the country to improve the water management situation. Already in this regard the government has initiated few programmes such as 100 smart cities, National Mission to Clean Ganga, Total Sanitation Programme etc. which have Integrated Management as their backbone.
Realising the importance of IUWM application in India, during the course of the session a request was made by Dr Amarjith Singh to develop activities and a programme for IUWM in India. GWP with its partners is now exploring potential activities that could be implemented which align and contribute to the programmes that Government of India has initiated.