India’s wastewater management landscape is undergoing a decisive transformation as rapid urbanisation and industrial expansion place mounting pressure on freshwater resources. This has made effective wastewater treatment and reuse an urgent national priority. Wastewater is being increasingly recognised as a valuable resource, offering strong potential for circular use. In response, municipal bodies are expanding wastewater treatment capacity, upgrading infrastructure and adopting reuse-focused approaches through government initiatives, making policy amendments, creating planned masterplans and undertaking effective stormwater drainage (SWD) management initiatives. Meanwhile, industries are investing in advanced effluent treatment, and innovative research and development (R&D) initiatives. Together, these initiatives are steering India towards a more resilient, resource-efficient and technology-enabled wastewater ecosystem aligned with long-term water security goals.
Policy-driven initiatives
Government initiatives and policy measures are playing a pivotal role in strengthening both municipal and industrial wastewater management in India. At the national level, programmes such as the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Urban and Grameen continue to expand sewerage networks, enhance treatment capacity and promote decentralised solutions. For instance, under AMRUT, as of December 2025, 14.9 million sewer connections and a sewer network of length 21,754 km have been provided. The progress has been translated into the development of a 4,755 million litre per day (mld) sewage treatment capacity, including 1,437 mld for reuse.
Meanwhile, around 1,067 sewage treatment plants (STPs) with a designed capacity of around 40,000 mld and 1,082 faecal sludge treatment plants with a designed capacity of around 59,000 kilolitres per day are operational under SBM Urban as of December 5, 2025. Further, strengthening decentralised wastewater treatment in the rural areas, about 180,000 phytroids, decentralised wastewater treatment systems, wetland duckweed pots, over 42,000 waste stabilisation ponds and other wastewater management assets have been constructed as of December 5, 2025, under SBM Grameen. This infrastructure lays the groundwork for the broader vision of effective municipal wastewater management across the country.
Performance-linked initiatives like the Jal Hi Amrit (JHA) incentivise urban local bodies (ULBs) to operate STPs efficiently and meet prescribed environmental standards, creating a shift towards accountable and outcomes-based wastewater governance. As of August 2025, 860 STPs have been enrolled under the scheme. Based on the operational efficiency of STPs and other relevant parameters, STPs operated by different ULBs have been awarded incentive amounts under the JHA scheme. In October 2025, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation received Rs 560 million for the strong performance of its three STPs. In March 2025, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board received Rs 1.03 billion after 23 of its 30 assessed STPs earned five-star ratings, while the Surat Municipal Corporation secured Rs 1.05 billion with 19 of its 20 STPs achieving the same benchmark.
State governments are tightening their wastewater policies, including mandates for reclaimed water use. For instance, Maharashtra’s Sewage Treatment and Reuse Policy, 2025, approved in October 2025, mandates sewage treatment and reuse across 424 ULBs, advancing the state’s shift towards a circular water economy. The policy prioritises treated wastewater use by thermal power plants, industries and agriculture. Moreover, in a similar advancement, the Rajasthan government has approved amendments to the Sewerage and Wastewater Policy, 2016, in August 2025. The amendments focus on structured sewerage systems, wastewater infrastructure upgrades and the integration of modern technologies and reuse practices. At the ULB level, in September 2025, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation approved the draft for Faecal Sludge, Septage and Wastewater Management Regulations, 2024. The draft mandates residents to link their septic tanks and sewage outlets to Lucknow’s sewer network.
Strategic future-ready masterplans
Masterplans and action plans are becoming essential for structured, prioritised and responsible wastewater management in India. These plans set clear targets for treatment capacity, network expansion, reuse and technology adoption, enabling an integrated, mission-driven approach.
Conforming to this, several states and ULBs are actively drafting and implementing these frameworks. For example, Uttar Pradesh’s Viksit UP-2047 vision released in September 2025 sets short-term water targets for 2030, including universal sanitation access and complete sewage treatment in AMRUT cities. The state is accelerating modern, scientifically designed STPs for efficient wastewater collection, treatment and safe disposal. Similarly, the Sewage Masterplan 2043 in Delhi, being drafted by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), proposes to divide the city into four zones to fix accountability, improve operations and maintenance (O&M), and enhance service delivery of sewage treatment under the one-zone-one operator model. The masterplan aims to revamp the wastewater infrastructure in Delhi and chalk out a road map for its effective utilisation for the next two decades. The emerging masterplans also seek to reinforce industrial wastewater management by introducing structured planning, clearer compliance pathways, and a stronger focus on wastewater recycling and reuse.
Wastewater reuse initiatives
With rising water stress and tighter regulations, wastewater reuse is rapidly emerging as a national priority, prompting active action from municipal and other agencies. Delhi is taking a major lead in this shift. As of November 2025, the Delhi government has approved DJB’s plan to reuse treated wastewater for restoring wetlands, lakes and depleted aquifers. The city treats 701 million gallons per day (mgd) of wastewater, however, only 125 mgd is currently reused. Among its various facilities, at the Coronation Pillar STP, 100 mgd of treated water is produced, with 21.5 mgd already being supplied for horticulture. DJB now plans to utilise the remaining 78.5 mgd through marshland revival, groundwater recharge via the Jahangirpuri drain and rejuvenation of Bhalswa Lake and its golf course.
Alongside, initiatives are being undertaken to optimise industrial wastewater treatment and expand the reuse of wastewater as well. Aligning with this, in July 2025, the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority began upgrading all STPs to produce treated water suitable for industrial applications. IIT Delhi is preparing the detailed project report for this modernisation, which will introduce a three-stage tertiary treatment system to meet industrial reuse standards. These initiatives reflect a growing national pivot towards circular water management, with municipalities and industries jointly driving the transition from disposal-oriented systems to reuse-focused infrastructure.
Growing R&D in industrial wastewater treatment
India’s R&D ecosystem is advancing scalable, low-energy industrial wastewater solutions by leveraging natural processes and indigenous innovations, helping industries manage costs, variable effluents and stricter discharge norms while expanding reuse. Recent innovations in India are accelerating the use of biochar and indigenous materials in industrial wastewater treatment. For instance, in August 2025, researchers at Shiv Nadar University (Delhi NCR) developed a biochar-infused membrane using waste from this spice-processing and leather-tanning industries. Blended with polymers, the membrane offers a faster and cheaper alternative for up to 83 per cent dye removal and 80 per cent antibiotic removal. Earlier, in May 2025, IIT Guwahati introduced a biochar- and enzyme-based system called BHEEMA, created from spent mushroom waste and the natural enzyme laccase. Designed to remove antibiotics from industrial effluent, hospital discharge and surface water, the system achieved about 95 per cent degradation of fluoroquinolone antibiotics within three hours while avoiding toxic by-products.
In March 2025, a similar breakthrough by IIT Guwahati researchers involved fruit-waste-derived biochars produced through pyrolysis, including pineapple-crown biochar and sweet-lime fibre biochar. These variants recorded 99 per cent and 97 per cent removal of 4-nitrophenol, a hazardous pollutant from dye and pharmaceutical industries, offering an economical and reusable treatment option. Earlier, in February 2025, Shivaji University in Kolhapur developed biochar derived from jamun leaves as a cost-effective, biodegradable material for industrial wastewater treatment, showing strong potential for affordable pollutant removal.
Municipal initiatives for SWD management
Cities are increasingly integrating SWD into broader wastewater strategies to prevent the mixing of stormwater and sewage, reduce drainage system overload and create conditions that support potential recovery, treatment and reuse of wastewater.
Recent municipal actions reflect a clear shift towards preventive infrastructure and data-driven planning. In a recent development, the Mangaluru City Corporation approved the installation of trash boom barriers across six major SWDs in November 2025. The first barrier has already been placed near the Jeppu Kutpady railway underpass, with others planned for Pandeshwar, Alake, Kuloor, Malady and the Netravathi bridge in Kadekar. The German social enterprise Plastic Fischer is collecting plastic and other non-biodegradable waste from barrier points and sending it to the Bajal material recovery facility, preventing solid waste from entering rivers and improving the SWD flow.
The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) in Haryana signed an MoU with IIT Gandhinagar in November 2025 to address chronic waterlogging. IIT Gandhinagar will study the city’s SWD design and performance and develop a scientific drainage model, along with simulation tools that use MCG-provided data to forecast water flow and accumulation during heavy rainfall. These models will help identify high-risk flood zones and guide the design of new drainage structures and targeted mitigation strategies.
Navigating strategic future pathways
Going forward, India’s wastewater segment requires a coordinated shift towards integrated, technology-driven and resource-efficient wastewater treatment systems. Municipal priorities include expanding networks, closing last-mile gaps and upgrading STPs to meet stricter discharge and reuse norms, supported by performance-based O&M, digital monitoring and energy efficiency.
For industries, enforcing zero liquid discharge (ZLD) alongside financial incentives is vital, especially for small and scattered clusters. Technologies like low-temperature evaporation offer promising ZLD solutions. For example, Spray Engineering Devices Limited reported that its LTE technology is enabling industries to achieve up to 99 per cent water recovery at one-quarter of the operating cost of conventional systems. Upgrading the currently operational common effluent treatment plants, with tertiary treatment, nature-based methods and advanced monitoring, is key to sustainable compliance across industries like textiles and pharmaceuticals.
To further streamline the sector’s progress, clear reuse frameworks, stable offtake agreements and robust on site pretreatment are essential to ease pressure on shared facilities. Multilateral institutions and international donors like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, JICA and others, support this transition through regulatory clarity, market incentives, financing mechanisms and public-private partnerships to expand reuse capacity and integrate reclaimed water into municipal and industrial systems.
Aditi Gupta
