Authors: Rudresh Kumar Sugam, Kangkanika Neog and Abhishek Jain
Date of publish: July 2017
Why did we conduct this research?
With rising spatial and temporal scarcity of water, municipalities are confronted with the challenge of identifying innovative yet cost-effective solutions to meet rising demands of urban, industrial, and agricultural communities.
Key findings:
- Direct benefits through recovered resources from wastewater could make an economically attractive case for practitioners to adopt circular economy pathways to manage wastewater.
- Beyond economics, wastewater management should be looked at from a sustainability viewpoint, as it has multi-dimensional benefits.
- Providing financial and land resources and creating an enabling environment would be the major roles for the government.
- NGOs can positively influence public at large through awareness-building initiatives; government can help in designing socially acceptable solutions, certification, and authorization; entrepreneurs can help in designing technological interventions according to the needs; and financial institutions can support the initiatives through long-term patient capital.
- Regarding successful institutional frameworks, viability gap funding or blended finance model could boost public-private partnerships, where the private sector could work under BOOT mode, sharing equal risks
Reference:
Asolekar, S., Biniwale, R. B., Chandran, K., Chaudhuri, R. R., Heemskerk, F., Jain, A. K., ... & Lakshmi, K. V. (2016). Circular Economy Pathways for Municipal Wastewater Management in India: A Practitioner’s Guide. Circular Economy Pathways for Municipal Wastewater Management in India: A Practitioner’s Guide.
