Workshop 3: Sustainable Wastewater Management in Developing Countries: An Innovative Indian Approach in River Rejuvenation

Developing countries have enormous challenges yet with increasing role in Global Leadership, India is committed towards meeting UN’s SDGs particularly SDG 6 in all respect. It is with this focused approach, the first Governance challenge was met when Govt. of India in 2014-2015 launched ‘Namami Gange’ (Clean Ganga), a flagship programme under Ministry of Jal Shakti, (erstwhile Ministry of Water Resources) for protection, conservation, and rejuvenation of River Ganga and its tributaries. The dedicated efforts of NMCG, Government of India and active stakeholder engagement has led to the identification of governance issues and technological challenges which hindered the Indian wastewater sector. Subsequently, innovative methods were developed which not only mitigated the problem of pollution created through domestic sewage and industrial effluents but also ushered in a paradigm shift in the water sector. NMCG also extensively worked on other components such as, solid and liquid waste management, restoring biodiversity, afforestation, wetland conservation, river and people connect etc. to holistically rejuvenate the entire riverine ecosystem. In this workshop, speaker presentations from NMCG, GoI and allied partners shared experiences on effective and efficient wastewater management in Indian context. The panellists from other developed and developing countries then gave their viewpoint on the Indian experience and through this discussion, various other countries got to derive inspiration from the work and models adopted by India.