New Delhi (NVI): India’s wastewater treatment plants market stood at USD 2.4 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 4.3 billion by 2025 owing to increasing demand for municipal water as well as sewage water treatment plants across the country, according to Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.
“There will be a huge gap of investments in this market and the private sector can fill this gap in terms of technology selection, fund rotation and implementation,” Kant said while addressing the valedictory session ‘6th Edition of India Industry Water Conclave & 8th Edition of FICCI Water Awards’, here yesterday.
In his address, the NITI Aayog CEO said that climate change along with rapid population and economic growth is resulting in an increased demand for water and food, potentially leading to over stressing not only for our present resources but also jeopardizing the resources for future generations.
“Therefore, a move towards a circular economy is critical for ensuring the economic and social stability of not only four economy but for the world economy as a whole,” he added.
Kant said that to encourage circular economy, there is a need to develop an enabling framework that uses smart regulations, market-based instruments, research and innovation, incentives, information exchange for voluntary approaches.
“To implement the circular economy and achieve sustainable industrial renaissance we should rely on proactive businesses and consumers with a special focus on small and medium sized enterprises implementing circular economy solutions,” he added.
He said that in circular economy innovations, our goals should be to design ways through the value chain rather than relying on the solutions at the end of the product life. This, he said can be achieved by reducing the quantity of water required to deliver services, reducing the use of energy in production, creating a market for secondary raw materials, incentivising and supporting waste reduction and high-quality separation by consumers along with facilitating the clustering of activities to prevent by-products from becoming waste. “Exploring and accessing alternate water sources is highly required,” he added.
Kant further stated that there is a need for rationalisation in freshwater allocation for drinking in urban and rural areas with due proportion to industry. “Efficient use of water in agriculture should also be encouraged by adopting micro irrigation methods. All these uses should be interdependent for recycling and reuse of wastewater,” he noted.
To achieve the SDG 6.3 targets significant investments will be required in new infrastructure, grey and green and locally appropriate combinations along with appropriate technologies to increase the treatment in use of water. Inadequate sanitation resulting in poor hygienic practice leads to huge economic and social losses for the country, he said.
Collection, treatment, and reuse of municipal wastewater provides an opportunity for not only environmental rehabilitation but also meeting the increasing water needs of different economic sectors, he added.
Also present on the occasion, Rajendra Singh, ‘Water Man of India’ said that for the country to become water sufficient nation, we have to ensure to use retreat, recycle and reuse the C-class water category.
We must focus on using the B-class water for agriculture and A-class which comprises of fresh water should be kept separated from other classes of water. He also stated that in agriculture we must focus on reducing the use of water through new technology and skill development. “We need to link the crop pattern with rain pattern to ensure efficiency,” he added.
-ARK
