Sustainable Development, Management and Use of Water Resources Pivotal to India’s Journey Towards Viksit Bharat@2047: Mr Rakesh Kumar Verma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti
“Viksit Bharat @2047 embodies India’s aspiration to become a fully developed nation—a vision that cannot be realized without ensuring water security for all citizens” said Mr Rakesh Kumar Verma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India. He was the Chief Guest at the 10th Water Innovation Summit 2024 with the theme Viksit Bharat@2047: Water Partnerships for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth organised by CII today at New Delhi.
Climate change challenges, water variability, quality, and availability, are impacting global water resources, he emphasised. To tackle climate change, we must prepare both supply and demand sides for water management through partnerships and smart and sustainable solutions. “Successful partnerships require inclusive dialogue, multi-stakeholder collaboration and mechanisms for co-creating outcomes, cost-sharing, and meaningful, participatory engagement”, he stressed.
To advance water security, the Government of India proposes a state-level Integrated Water Resources Management Authority to unify efforts across water-related departments, he informed. A draft model bill has been shared with states, empowering this authority to create water security plans, manage groundwater, flood plains, and enforce conservation rules at all administrative levels, he added.
A key step toward a "Viksit Bharat" is the draft National Water Data Policy, aimed at centralizing data on water quantity, quality, sources, and usage across sectors and levels (local to national). The policy seeks to unify fragmented data, fostering open collaboration and public-private partnerships to enhance water sector information and management, informed Mr Verma.
H.E. Mr Kimmo Lähdevirta, Ambassador of Finland to India, Embassy of Finland stressed the need to move away from isolated approaches towards water management to holistic approaches that are all inclusive. He discussed several important initiatives and experiences from Finland and Finnish companies to enhance water management. These included energy-efficient wastewater treatment through biogas and chemical and heat recovery, expanding wastewater recycling, utilizing smart water management technologies, promoting innovative irrigation techniques using sensors, focusing on groundwater recharge and the restoration of water bodies to ensure sustainable water resources for communities.
The Summit also witnessed felicitation of companies for their progress on Water Neutrality journey across three scopes – Aspire (Scope 1),Rising (Scope 2), Achieved (Scope 3) based on Water Neutrality Guidelines set by NITI Aayog.
Infosys Limited, Bengluru Campus was declared as “Water Positive” campus achieving water neutrality across all three scopes and was presented Achieved (scope 3) Certification.
4 companies received Scope 1 (Aspire) Certification - 1) Hindustan Zinc Limited, Rajpura, Dariba Complex, Rajasthan, 2) JSW Steel Coated Products Limited, Tarapur Works, Maharashtra 3) JSW Steel Limited, Salem, Tamil Nadu 4) Tata Steel Limited, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
An MoU between Infosys and CII Water Institute was exchanged during the Summit. The MOU focussing towards strengthening efforts towards water management aims to identify approaches, technologies and methods that will enable Infosys to realise its water neutrality goal across all sites in India.
Mr Nikhil Sawhney, Chairman, CII-Triveni Water Institute & Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Triveni Turbine Ltd in his welcome address emphasised that water is dynamic and complex, emerging from the combined influences of multiple factors and cannot be tackled with a ‘business-as-usual’ approach. Involvement of all stakeholders would pay high economic dividends and partnerships are essential for furthering the collaborations. The CII-Triveni Water Institute is working in a meaningful manner for furthering the water agenda, shared Mr Sawhney. The Institute is also continuously forging partnerships, outreach, and international collaborations for promoting industry-wide adoption of efficient water use practices. The institute is also promoting water conservation and management through water audits, the Blue Rating System, WATSCAN Tool, and Water PINCH analysis. Institute in collaboration with NITI Aayog, has developed water neutrality guidelines for Indian industry, informed Mr Sawhney.
Dr Kapil K Narula, Executive Director & CEO, CII-Triveni Water Institute, highlighted the challenge of decoupling water consumption from conservation. He emphasized that while growth is inevitable, water conservation efforts must surpass consumption increase. He stressed on the need for an integrated approach to ensure that conservation keeps pace with development, stressing the impact of these efforts on global water sustainability.
12-11-2024
New Delhi