Decentralised urban water management in Chhattisgarh

Over the past few years, it has become increasingly clear that centralised urban water management in this country is in deep crisis. Water supply is both inadequate and extremely costly, water harvesting and recharging and used water treatment and reuse are mostly absent and storm water management is a disaster.

Under the circumstances, the only viable solution is communitarian in situ water management and this is what has been proposed in the latest guidelines of both the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and the Swacch Bharat Mission.

Our NGO, Mahila Jagat Lihaaz Samiti, has not only implemented communitarian in situ water management but has also carried out research to provide evidence of the unviability of centralised water management and the suitability of the former.

Here is a film based on detailed research that I did on urban water management in Chhattisgarh for the National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi, that succinctly critiques centralised urban water management and brings out the importance of communitarian in situ water management. The film has been made by Makarand Purohit.