Starting with a recent development, the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has partnered with the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) to inaugurate a new capacity building program. This initiative, named ‘Making water sensitive cities in Ganga basin’, creates fresh opportunities for sustainable urban water management, thus improving the health of Ganga basin cities.
Unpacking the Initiative
The program is primarily aimed at capacity building and action research that fosters sustainable urban water management with a focus on improving river health across Ganga basin cities. The key areas it targets include water-sensitive urban design and planning, urban water efficiency and conservation, decentralized wastewater treatment and local reuse, urban groundwater management, and urban water bodies/lake management.
Alignments with Existing Missions
By aligning with the national flagship urban missions like Namami Gange Mission, AMRUT, Smart Cities, Swachh Bharat Mission, HRIDAY and NULM, as well as Atal Bhujal Yojana, Jal Jeevan Mission and Jal Shakti Abhiyan at state or city level, this initiative assures convergence across the Ganga basin states.
Stakeholders’ Involvement
The program sets to engage a wide range of stakeholders including State Program Management Groups (SPMGs) under Namami Gange, Municipal Corporations, technical & research consultants, international organizations, and local grassroot communities among others.
Water Sensitive Urban Design and Planning
This is an emerging paradigm in urban development aimed at minimizing the hydrological impacts of urbanization on the environment. It includes methods of planning and designing urban areas for optimum utilization of water, minimizing harm caused to rivers and creeks, and managing entire water systems such as drinking water, stormwater runoff, waterway health, sewage treatment and recycling.
Connectivity with Other Initiatives
There is a significant shift in planning for River Cities evident through the newly formed “River Cities Alliance”. This alliance offers a collaborative platform for river cities to work together for river rejuvenation via sustainable development and capacity building. Furthermore, the ‘Catch the Rain’ initiative by the Jal Shakti Ministry focuses on rainwater harvesting and encourages stakeholders to construct Rain Water Harvesting Structures considering the climatic conditions and subsoil strata.
Looking Ahead
As the intensity of rain has risen over the years but the number of rainy days has fallen, water management has become a crucial issue. Reviving traditional knowledge of rainwater harvesting, such as the Alhar-Pyne system of Bihar, wells in forts of Rajasthan, and Cascade tanks of South India, could be useful. There is a push for a framework that promotes integration between Urban Built Form including landscape and urban water cycle. Given the pivotal role cities have played in the deterioration of rivers, they must equally contribute to rejuvenation efforts. Mainstreaming river-sensitive approaches while planning for cities is a need of the hour.
