What is it about?
Cities globally are struggling with water security often through pollution or scarcity. Decentralised wastewater treatment is a novel way to tackle both these by treating and reusing the water close to the site of production. But for this to work safely and economically, it needs strong and thoughtful governance structures. Policies need to cover the entire Water Reuse Chain, have fit for purpose standards and coordinate with the large urban water management plans. This article takes the case of Bengaluru in India, which has over 3000 decentralised treatment and reuse systems as an example to show how much potential exists for reuse and how to go about creating an enabling governance framework.
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Why is it important?
Regulations often lead to major changes, such as the case of Bengaluru's boom in decentralised water reuse. However, if policies and regulations are not well designed the whole system might be dysfunctional. This work is the first of its kind which: 1. Explains water reuse through a "Reuse Value Chain" concept. 2. Maps the policies and governance landscape across India on reuse. 3. Proposes a holistic enabling governance framework for water reuse.
Perspectives
The research that led to this publication came at an opportune time, since Bengaluru was suffering from multiple droughts that led to a policy window where change in the wastewater treatment and reuse regulations was possible. The results of this work supported the key decision makers in creating this policy change that led to one of the first wastewater markets in the world, thereby giving the wastewater treatment plant owners a good incentive to operate their plants and treat the water to a higher quality. Working together with interdisciplinary experts and partners who were strongly embedded in the ecosystem was very fulfilling!
Abishek Narayan
Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Governance and potential of decentralised water reuse in Bengaluru, India, PLOS Water, June 2026, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pwat.0000571.
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