Water crisis not due to of lack of resource, but mismanagement: Union minister at CSE conference

The water crisis in India is not due to lack of water resources but primarily because of mismanagement, said Hardeep Singh Puri, Union minister for housing and urban affairs, on April 25, 2023.

The minister was speaking at the 2023 Policy and Practice Forum, an international gathering of water, wastewater and sanitation management stakeholders and experts organised by Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Also read: UN 2023 Water Conference: Day 2 ends with dialogue on ‘water for sustainable development’

The three-day gathering, from April 25-27, 2023, is held at CSE’s educational center Anil Agarwal Environment Training Institute, Alwar.

While treaties might resolve political conflicts around water, they will not tackle the need to fundamentally alter how we extract, consume, plan and manage water and sanitation systems, the minister added.

While delivering the opening address, CSE Director-General Sunita Narain, said:

The good news is that water literacy has grown. Over the past decades, the country has learnt critical lessons on water management and has evolved a new paradigm. There is an interest in decentralised water management, but in spite of that, it is clear that we are not doing enough to secure our future.

“The problem lies in the fact that our land and water bureaucracies are fractured — some agency owns the pond, another the drain and yet another the catchment. Water security requires this to change. Giving the local community much greater control over the water structures — deepening democracy and devolution of powers — is the answer,” Narain said.

The forum will be focusing on providing inclusive and affordable solutions for water and sanitation management, said Depinder Kapur, director of CSE’s water and wastewater programme.

Being organised in collaboration with the Water Research Commission (WRC), International Water Association (IWA), Faecal Sludge Management Alliance (FSMA), University of Columbia and GIZ, this international meet is designed as an experience-sharing and agenda-setting forum.

Also read: UN 2023 Water Conference: African Heads of State lead from front; announce ‘presidential compacts’ on water, sanitation

“The Forum has brought together some 100 policymakers, practitioners and researchers to deliberate on the conditions prevailing at present and the priorities for the future,” Kapur added.

Other key speakers that the forum include Roopa Mishra, joint secretary Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and mission director of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban; G Mathi Vathanan, principal secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Government of Odisha and other officials.

During his address, G Ashok Kumar, Director-General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), informed the audience that NMCG is now monitoring the performance of sewage treatment plants on a real-time basis. The Mission has also launched a 140-city River City Alliance. 

Read more:

• Run-up to UN Water Conference: Bottled water masking world’s failure to supply ‘safe water’ for all, says report
• UN 2023 Water Conference: 46 years after Mar del Plata, it’s time to examine the successes and failures
• UN 2023 Water Conference: Quarter of the globe lacks access to safe drinking water, says report

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