Sao Paulo, July 2017 – An agreement was signed with the São Paulo Secretariat of Water Resources and Sanitation, laying the foundation for a comprehensive program of joint action. Also since July 2017, a 2030 WRG Representative is based in Sao Paulo in order to set-up and lead the program.

Since then, the 2030 Water Resources Group has been developing intense activities in two large macro themes that have been chosen as significant to advance the water security goals in the State. These are: (1) the reuse of effluents from Domestic Sewage Treatment Stations and (2) the poor performance of sanitation services in small and medium-sized municipalities (of less than 300,000 inhabitants).

Four Working Groups are being established to foster dialogue and transparency in seeking good solutions for those issues. Three of these Working Groups are already well-established and a fourth one is being organized with the participation of key decision-makers and with very clearly defined objectives:

1. The first Working Group supports the discussions on the environmental and sanitary regulation of reuse of effluents from Sewage Treatment Stations in the State of São Paulo. The aspect to be discussed initially refers to its use for sanitary equipment. The Working Group allows stakeholders to articulate, facilitate understanding with regulatory and control bodies, consolidate experiences and try to make regulation adaptable and replicable. At the same time, this working group should support companies to comply with recent regulations. As there are several initiatives to regulate this theme in São Paulo and Brazil in general, it is important to consolidate existing experiences and knowledge to support decisions at private and public sectors.
2. The second Working Group has been established with Sabesp, the water utility company of São Paulo and largest public water utility in Latin America, and aims to study the viability of new production and commercialization units of effluents from sewage treatment stations. It might be possible today to overcome the challenges that has been addressed by different studies in the past, since the water stress of the region has become clearer, requiring expansion of measures to rationalize the use of water resources; the technologies became more affordable, and also the deindustrialization of the region that has led to a reduction of the industrial effluents received by the treatment station made the treatment cheaper.
3. The third Working Group focuses on a topic that overlaps urban and water issues. It is supporting a discussion about the technical and financial feasibility of retrofitting storm water reservoirs, which will be supplemented with compact treatment stations.
4. The fourth Working Group, involving the State Secretariat of Sanitation and Water Resources, discusses and seeks to characterize the dynamics that lead to the poor performance, in terms of water and sanitation, of some small and medium sized municipalities (less than 300 thousand inhabitants) in the State. It aims to support the State in its usual funding programs and to provide solid basis for further investments of different origins.

As these groups begin their work,  2030 WRG also continues to reach out to local stakeholders to present our activities and dynamics. The reception so far has been very good, and at each meeting we realize that our presence and performance can be significant to support changes towards greater security in the water sector.

Karnataka, July 15, 2017 – The Government of Karnataka signed Memoranda of Understanding with six private sector companies at a Ramthal DMAC workshop in Bengaluru jointly organized with 2030 WRG, with representatives from the Departments of Water Resources, Agriculture, Horticulture, Watershed Development and the private sector.

The private sector companies which signed the MoUs included:

• ADM AGRO INDUSTRIES DHARWAD PRIVATE LIMITED
• NEO FOODS PRIVATE LIMITED
• GLOBAL GREEN COMPANY LIMITED
• RSM HiTech Feeds
• KRISHI ORGANIC PRODUCTS PRIVATE LIMITED
• JAIN FARM FRESH FOODS LIMITED

Managing Director, Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Limited, Water Resources Department, Mr. Anjum Parwez, underscored the significance of the MoU, “The workshop is a significant step forward by Government of Karnataka and the private sector companies towards strengthening market linkages for the project areas covering Drip Irrigation, and to sustain the area as a world-class horticultural and agricultural center of international repute.”

He further added, “We are confident that the progressive step taken by the six private companies will encourage more private companies to come forward and partner with the Government of Karnataka to improve the agro-economics of farmers of the Ramthal project area, followed by other drip irrigation projects.”

Building upon the concept of the Ramthal project, the Government of Karnataka’s Agriculture, Horticulture and Water Resources Departments, in partnership with 2030WRG, is promoting the scaling of drip adoption through a corridor approach linked with market-based mechanisms for offtake, targeting up to 500,000 hectares of drip irrigated areas in North Karnataka, termed the Drip-to-Market Agro Corridor (DMAC). In addition to Ramthal, the corridor will cover projects such as Koppal, Singatalur, Poorigali, and Savanur. DMAC combines a dual focus on promotion of drip irrigation, along with partnerships with agribusiness companies, input providers, financial institutions, and technology companies, in order to:

• Provide channels for off-take of farm produce, thereby improving farmer livelihoods;
• Support market linkages focused on high-value and water-efficient agricultural and horticultural produce through retailers, exporters and processing units, justifying the original government investments into the projects;
• Benefit from economies of scale on the development of needed infrastructure for post-harvest management (e.g. agri-processing zones, poly houses, cold storage);
• Accelerate agricultural extension services for good agriculture practices, mechanization, finance facilitation and knowledge transfer.

The objective of the partnership is to optimize benefits to the farmers on the unique investments made by the Government of Karnataka, and to provide the private sector a stable and structured environment to establish a sustainable supply chain for high-value crops, with assured and efficient water supply. Potential support schemes from the government include Public-Private Partnerships for Integrated Agriculture Development (PPP-IAD) and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yogana (RKVY) programs, as well as office facilities and support services from the KBJNL (including a dedicated and outsourced Market Linkages PIU – Project Implementation Unit).

Secretary to the Government, Departments of Agriculture and Horticulture, Karnataka, Mr. Maheshwar Rao, highlighted the need for market linkages for agriculture, “Market linkages for agriculture-based projects ensure that the farmer has adequate avenues to sell agricultural produce, serving as an important part of the agriculture extension process. We thank 2030 WRG for their assistance in setting up these collaboration models for farmers, who will benefit from partnerships with private companies.”

Vietnam is a country that faces diverse water-related challenges whilst experiencing strong economic growth. To respond to these challenges, a partnership facilitated by the 2030 WRG between the Government of Vietnam, the private sector and civil society is currently being explored, to identify and align joint initiatives to work towards sustainable water resources management.

2030 WRG has initiated a high-level analysis of the water sector in Vietnam with ARUP as technical partner, focused on estimating the water demand-supply gap, assessing ongoing initiatives, and identifying potential cost-effective and technically feasible solutions to close the gap. A multi-stakeholder advisory board was established to guide the analysis. On the basis of the analysis and stakeholder inputs, select deep dives were conducted to provide insight into ‘high impact’ areas for a potential future work plan in Vietnam.

• Alternate Wet and Dry (AWD) Rice Management Practice:
  Rice is the dominant crop grown in Vietnam and accounts for 58% of the total irrigated area. Water efficiency measures in rice production can have a great impact on reducing agricultural water demand. AWD has the potential to reduce demand by 30% and is endorsed by the Government of Vietnam as a technical innovation. The Government of Vietnam aims to apply AWD in 1 million ha of paddy rice by 2020.  AWD also results in yield increases which could present a business case for farmers.
• Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC):
  HCMC is the economic hub of Vietnam with an estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of $43.7 bn. HCMC is projected to be ‘water stressed’ by 2030. Currently only 10% of HCMC’s municipal wastewater being treated. The government plans to increase the treatment capacity to 100% by 2030. It is estimated that HCMC’s estimated non-potable water demand can be met with wastewater treated to appropriate standards.
• Industrial Wastewater Treatment and Reuse around Hanoi (Nhue-Day Basin):
  Despite legislative requirements, most facilities do not have wastewater treatment plants. As per the Analysis, it is suggested to explore opportunities to improve the legal framework and create incentives for sustainable water resources management. Opportunities can also be explored with infrastructure development companies around financing arrangements and commercialization of Centralized Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) and industrial water reuse systems.
• Water Efficiency for Coffee Production in the Central Highlands:
  Excessive groundwater abstraction for coffee production causes groundwater depletion and water shortages. Applying precision irrigation, could result in significant reduction in water demand, while potentially increasing yields and reducing input costs.

The deep dives provide an improved understanding of the impact, cost and barriers of implementation of analyzed measures. They also provide an indicative roadmap on implementation and relevant stakeholders.

The analysis for a sample basin is shown in the box below:

Dong Nai River Basin has about 4% if the nation’s water and produces 28% of GDD. It is home to Ho Chi Minh City and well developed industrial complexes.

Dong Nai River Basin will be “water stressed” by dry season in 2030 and a total water demand reduction of 1.8 billion m3/year will be required to move to a “low water stress” state. A set of water reduction measures are assessed in a cost curve below aiming to close the water demand and supply gap and to move the basin to less water stressed state by 2030. Besides the cost-effective agriculture measures, municipal and industrial water treatment and reuse intervention should be part of the solution basket (linked to the deep dive of the Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse in Ho Chi Minh City). Total cost for basin wide approach could mount up to 650 million dollars.

 

Caption: SERC River Basin – cost curve of solutions to close the dry season water gap and reduce water stress to ‘low water stress’ in 2030

2030 WRG in collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MOWR) and India-EU Water Partnership, is supporting the development of a blueprint for water accounting in India.

This blueprint builds upon international experiences, with the overall objective to:

• Provide an architecture for appropriate policy decisions at the national and state-level, towards sustainable, equitable, and economics-driven water use;
• Develop indicators and data-sets to analyze trends in water consumption, availability, efficiency, cost recovery, economic productivity, and quality for appropriate demand-side management at scale;
• Support the prioritization of investments aimed at enhancing water efficiency/ quality improvements and mitigating negative impacts on the environment.

Context

As with many other countries in the world, India has been facing a severe deterioration of services associated with freshwater ecosystems, mainly due to pollution and over-abstraction. At the same time, water-related extreme events like floods and droughts significantly hit the society and economy. Such problems are aggravated by gaps in policy, governance systems, infrastructure and technologies, and their effects are more relevant than in other countries due to the large number of poor, and a high dependency on water. The global trends – including climate change, population increases and rising demands for food and energy – make water management more difficult and conflictive.

Water balance approaches

This is the context for the challenging task to design a blueprint for improved water resources management and a water indicator system in India. To make water use sustainable and to manage demand, the immediate and most urgent need is to undertake scientific water resources assessment and planning. In this pursuit, water accounting plays an important role. The outputs of such water balance approaches can be utilized by policy makers to make decisions on water allocation, by aligning information from different institutions, in order to analyse trends and accelerate demand-side water management solutions.

Consultative process

With the aim of developing such a blueprint, 2030 WRG has been facilitating a multi-stakeholder consultative process in order to identify needed priority interventions and mobilize stakeholder interest towards using such a framework for better water management practices. Four stakeholder workshops have been conducted in 2017 as a part of this initiative.

During these workshops, two task forces on water quality and water efficiency have been operationalized, with participation across stakeholder groups.

Dashboards

With respect to water quality, the immediate priority for indicator and dashboard development is the Ganga Basin, aligned with the National Mission for the Clean Ganga initiative and the Smart Cities program, aimed at targeting areas with the maximum untreated wastewater. Based on the dashboards developed, priority actions will be initiated as a next step, including private sector and industry participation for wastewater treatment.

Water quality monitoring requires the identification of critical parameters, strategic locations for monitoring sites, standardized protocols for laboratory measurements, appropriate frequency of data collection, and a focus on flows in addition to water quality, for an integrated approach to pollution loads and biodiversity considerations.

Decision making toolkits

Under the water efficiency task force, the focus is on developing toolkits for decision-making on water efficiency and productivity at a river basin scale, including the use of remote sensing technology. This track focuses on building institutional capacity within central- and state-level institutions, academic institutions, civil society, and enabling organizations to drive water efficiency and productivity improvements among strategic basins, including the pilot basins of Tapi and Cauvery. The Tapi Basin engagement will align with 2030 WRG’s recently launched Maharashtra Multi-Stakeholder Platform to drive stakeholder-based approaches to water accounting. Such approaches will accelerate private sector and civil society involvement for efficiency in agricultural, urban and industrial settings.

A ‘Project Management Unit’ has been established within Central Water Commission to coordinate water accounting activities and roll-out this approach in the country.