SUSTAINABLE & INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TO WATER WOES IN INDIA

Project Report
Submitted By: Gr 4 Batch 2

Creativity & Innovation Workshop Assignment report On

Sustainable & Innovative Solutions to Water Woes in India

By Group 4 (Batch II) Sombit Sarkar Shilpita Mohanty Sudha Madhavi Kingshuk Sett Prashanth Sachan Mohit Reddy Pankaj Gaurav Kshitiz Shakya Avinash Singh Aditya Tarun Moin Siddqui

Institute of Management Technology, Hyderabad

Demand-supply scenario in India

India, which is home to 16% of the worlds population, has only 2.5% of the worlds land area and 4% of its water resources. Precipitation in the form of rain and snowfall provides over 4,000 TL of fresh water to the country. Most of this freshwater is carried out to the sea and ocean via the many large rivers flowing across the subcontinent. A portion of this water is absorbed by the soil and is stored in underground aquifers. A much smaller percentage is stored in inland water bodies including natural (lakes and ponds) and man-made (tanks and reservoirs). Out of the 1,869 TL of water reserves in the country, only an estimated 1,122 TL can be utilized due to topographic constraints and distribution issues. Furthermore, the demand for water has been increasing rapidly in the past few decades. Indias current water consumption is approximately 581 TL, with irrigation needs accounting for a staggering 89%, followed by domestic use at 5% and industrial consumption at 6%.

Projection of future demand-supply scenario

The demand for water is projected to overtake its availability in India. In some regions of the country, this has already happened. The following exhibit shows the likely trend of the growth in demand. Indias rapidly increasing population, urbanization and industrialization has led to a significant increase in the need for water. In the next decade, this demand is expected to grow by 20%, primarily fueled by industrial requirements that are expected to double from 23.2 trillion liters at present to 47 trillion liters. Domestic demand is expected to grow by 40% from 41 to 55 trillion liters, while irrigation is likely to require only 14% more after 10 years 592 trillion liters up from 517 trillion liters at 2011.

Major Issues in various water consumption areas

Agriculture:
Rise in water consumption: Rice, wheat and sugarcane together constitute 90% of Indias crop production and are the highest water-consuming crops India has a reasonable water footprints among the top rice and wheat producing countries (China, US, Indonesia, etc.) Over-exploitation of groundwater: States with a reasonable production of rice/wheat are expected to face groundwater depletion of up to 75%, by 2050 Increase in wastewater discharge: Agri-based industries such as textiles, sugar and fertilizer are among the top producers of wastewater

Industry:
Industrial water consumption is expected to quadruple between 2000 and 2050. By 2050 industrial water consumption will reach 18% of total annual water consumption, up from just 6% in 2000. Industrial wastewater discharge causes pollution and reduces available freshwater reserves There is no regulatory binding on water usage and wastage Around 6.2 billion liters of untreated industrial wastewater is generated everyday Thermal power and steel plants are the major contributors to annual industrial waste water discharge

Domestic:
The population density supported by Indias river basins is higher than most other developing countries The five states mentioned below are the highest producers of rice, wheat and sugarcane (water-intensive crops) and together produce ~70% of the total food crops in India Subsidies on electricity in these states has led to excessive pumping of groundwater for agriculture

Existing Business Models in India

Municipal and Public: In this model, the municipality (or occasionally, a region of collective municipalities) owns and operates the utility. Operations and Maintenance Contracts: In this model, the municipality owns the utility and retains the responsibility for capital improvement, but delegates that for day-to-day operations and maintenance to an outside contractor. The contractor is paid by the municipality, which controls the revenues received from end users. Build Operate Transfer Model: In this model, the municipality presents the opportunity to build and operate a new facility to the private sector, along with the responsibility for all required capital improvements, during the contract period. On the completion of the contract, ownership of the facility is transferred back to the municipality, based on the terms agreed on. Affermage: In this model, the municipality continues to be the owner of the utility and bears the responsibility for capital expenditure. However, it leases the utility to the private sector for day-to-day operations and maintenance. In return, the private sector makes lease payments to the municipality to compensate it for its capital investment. Under this model, the private sector retains the user fees received from end customers and uses these to pay its costs. Concession: In this model, the municipality continues to be the owner of the utility, but responsibility for capital expenditure as well as day-to-day operations and maintenance rests with the private sector. As in the Affermage model, the private sector retains user fees received from end customers. At the end of the concession period, the responsibility of the private sector may revert to the municipality or the concession arrangement may be renewed. Investor Owned Utility: In this model, the municipality no longer owns the utility, and hence, all its responsibilities (including fee collection) related to utilities reside with the private sector. In some jurisdictions, this model has been adopted to allow the public sector to act as the sole or part shareholder or owner of a commercialized utility (utility with a commercial mandate and structure).

Water Value Chain:

Water Wastage:
In a country like India, where the water scarcity is reaching its peak level leading to an unsustainable future ahead, wastage of water is an unpardonable crime. Yet, the volumes of usable water moving out to the drains every day is quite an alarming figure. The listed bullets shows some thought provoking facts, that we need to sit up very fast. Daily water wastage in India is about 0.4 million litre (source: UNICEF report on Indias water issues) Average daily requirement of water for affluent usage is about 466 litre This information simply shows in India, we make a daily wastage of water for 858 persons; which cumulates yearly to 313305 users

The above figure illustrated the water scarcity scenario expected in 2025, from what is has been in 1995

Few short term measures to prevent water wastage:

A list of proposals has been bulleted below by our group on some short-term measures to prevent water wastage: Central enforced vigilant team to check water wastage in urban, semi-urban and rural areas Curbing water pollution and reducing excess usage High-penalty on water wastage and water pollution Increasing water storage capacity in towns and villages Low-tax on public to maintain central water reserve for acute needs Channeling funds for water purification from sea, water-falls, rivers and other water bodies Processing of hard-water to usable form Large scale rain water harvesting Awareness campaign and programs

Processing hard-water to soft-water is said to be an effective process as it can be readily done in laboratories and even in home-environment under proper surveillance. By processing hard-water we mean, extracting the sodium, magnesium and the carbon ions from the compound state to convert it to the usable soft water form. Rain-water harvesting can be extensively carried out in different rain-prone zones of India, especially in the rural areas. Not only does it enhance the ground-water level margin also it helps us to leverage upon the climatic condition of the Asian sub-continent.

Long Term Solutions for Water Woes in India

A conference of 500 leading water scientists from around the world issued a stark warning that, without major reforms, "in the short span of one or two generations, the majority of the 9 billion people on Earth will be living under the handicap of severe pressure on fresh water, an absolutely essential natural resource for which there is no substitute. This handicap will be self-inflicted and is, we believe, entirely avoidable." Mismanagement, Overuse and polluting the water bodies pose a serious threat to human well being and responding to those threats is a major challenge. Restricting ourselves to only short term solutions and achieving costly solutions wouldnt address the problem. We would have to take up environment surv eillance and understand the current state, availability of resources and take up initiatives that would help in achieving a sustainable solution. Sustainable development requires institutional reforms and technological innovation. The focus would be on water supply and hygiene, however a sustainable goals need to be considered.

Following are some of the recommendations: Integrated approach to water , including social and financial considerations in planning , designing and implementing water and sanitation policies Using Internet and other technologies to enhance transparency and accountability and report on results and progress. Also to manage projects in a way to minimize bureaucracy Community participation and involvement right from beginning of any project along with NGOs for a sustainable solution Adopting more precise irrigation practices Investments in infrastructure , R&D and knowledge management systems The recommendations can be launched in rural areas as first priority considering the fact that rural areas are the most deprived of water. The NGOs can be involved in such initiatives which would enhance the community participation and bring in the ownership for the resources. Some of the Long term solutions: examples could be: Low cost drip irrigation: Low cost drip irrigation comes with benefits such as less labor, less fertilizer requirement, ease in system implementation, affordable, increase in yield and almost 60 percent reduction in water usage. Nanotechnology: A future for water woes: On the nanoscale, the chemical, titanium dioxide could be used to decontaminate bacteria-ridden water. Investments in such technology can at least help the industrial water requirements if not for drinking purposes due to health concerns. Aakash Ganga: Aakash Ganga is a domestic rainwater harvesting system. Its strategy is to form public-privatecommunity partnership or social enterprise to provide drinking water to the people. It is an engineering innovation by a group of BITS students .The network uses satellite images, IT and Geographical information system. The innovation shortened design time to few weeks and eliminated surveys. Peer water exchange: Stanford social innovation review suggests a Peer water exchange a technology platform to resolve the water crisis and sanitation issues collaboratively. It manages thousands of small scale projects for long term. Water ATM Sarvajal: A market based model to provide clean drinking water to the base of the pyramid. It is a Cloud-managed, solar-powered, cashless vending ecosystem that enables availability of clean drinking water 24 hours a day at the very last mile. Automatic water level controller: A water level controller to regulate the usage of water in industrial needs. Litres of water are wasted through leaking pipes. Hence , Make companies fix leaky pipes Waste water management with effluent and sewage treatment plants , encouraging the private sector Persuade people to use less water through awareness programs on social media.

Existing Innovative Products

An innovative bathroom gadget has been manufactured by a company to save wastage of usable water. The narration of the same is given below:

Urinal and Sink Combo To save water, Eco Urinal is designed to use the water that was used for washing hands to flush the urine. By this process, we dont have to use water twice after using the urinal. Moreover, it reduces the establishment expenses by optimizing the materials. Upper space of this urinal is made with glass, and it helps to secure a clear view for users. It also promotes people to keep their sanitation because people need to wash their hands to flush the urine after use.

Proposed Innovations: Micro level proposal (Perspective from house-holds)

We propose to reduce the water crisis scenario of India, from the micro perspective of every house-hold. For that, we suggest to distribute water to each houses based on the requirement of the number of members living in that house and not a uniform distribution with the help of sensor and solenoid valve. This will help to reserve the excess water presently supplied to houses from municipalities; which can be kept for acute emergencies. Low water-tax can be levied to centrally maintain such reserves. During time of drought, emergencies water can be supplied to the effected regions without disturbing the water demand-supply equation for the rest of the parts. Moreover, sectors requiring water for their activities (example: agro-based industries) can be subjected to use from the reserves, instead of exploitation of ground-water.

Mechanism of sensor and solenoid valve:

Let us assume a simple scenario where, everyday a municipality gives a total of 1000 litres of water to 5 house-holds; each receiving 200 litres. Moreover, let the distribution be on the basis of affluent usage. Now, if an individual require, 40 litres of water daily, 200 litres of water is good enough for a house having 5 residents. But in case a house has only 3 residents, it is still getting, 200 litres, where is require only 120 litres. Probability is very high, due to the unconstrained water supply, the excess 80 litres is being over-used by the members of the house. Hence, we arrive to a situation where a country is in dire-stretch of water need, we have vast water over-use and wastage. Here, we propose municipality should distribute water to the different house-hold based on the number of individuals on the house and an average requirement for proper living, not excess, not less. So, we introduce a magnetic sensor to be attached to the reservoir of each household, having data of total requirement of water for the particular house. A solenoid valve should be fixed to the supply tank. Once, the required level is reached for the day, the sensor will automatically signal the valve through magnetic attraction to stop excess flow, and the solenoid valve will lock the water flow from municipality to the house. Accumulation of such reserves from every household will cumulates to a large national reserve which can be accessed for emergency purposes.

Implication of solenoid valve and sensor is demonstrated in the above figure

Launch Strategy
The venture can be used as a pilot-run for few households, depending on the success rate of its objective can be enforced centrally by the government Since, the product is simple, installation is easy and its also cost-effective Low maintenance cost required

Hence, the strategy we are following is a mass market, low cost strategy. The objective is to incorporate all the households with this product to cumulate the micro benefits in a macro level. Further, modification can be done over the product to leverage other possible advantages.

Macro level proposal: Water Smart Grid (WSG)

One Innovative approach to addressing water scarcity, promoting efficient water use, updating the existing water infrastructure, improving water quality, and reducing water-related energy consumption is the development and implementation of smart grid systems of water similar to those that have been used for electricity distribution. A WSG system would direct an innovative technology suite, including smart water meters, sensors, advanced modeling, water mapping, smart irrigation, autonomous robots, and other technologies, that would work together to create a data-driven system for the intelligent management of water resources. These systems would be comprised of a network of hardware and software that continuously monitors water use in homes, office buildings, and agricultural irrigation systems, water treatment plants, individual groundwater withdrawals, and delivery and allocation schemes to provide consumers and utilities with real-time information on water consumption from consumer, commercial, industrial, and agricultural endpoints and users.

Smart Water Sensors & meters

Advance modeling &

water mapping

Smart Irrigation & Autonomous robots

Smart water grid schematic

Smart water network

Smart water network can be conceptualized through following diagram:

Blueprint of the model:

Smart water management is all about applying monitoring and management technologies to help reduce the use of water, as well as related energy and chemicals. Managing water resources would include monitoring rivers, water reservoirs and pipes. Increasingly, utilities are transitioning to digital smart grids that collect data from networks of sensors and use advanced analytics to glean insight from that data.

Interactive meters and sensors can be integrated into water and energy systems, providing real-time, accurate information about our water consumption so that we will be able to make better decisions about how and when we use this valuable resource. These key technologies span across Instrumented solutions such as sensors, meters, detectors, cameras, etc.; Interconnected infrastructure or devices such as mobile /data networks, AMI, mobile phones, telemetry, etc. and Intelligent resources for asset management, predictive analytics, models (flood, water quality, pipe networks), decision support systems, visualization tools, GIS, etc. Smarter water management technologies can help companies reduce pollution, improve drinking water quality and increase the supply of usable water with a real-time advanced analytics system that tracks and reports on the condition of an infrastructure from filtration equipment, water pumps and valves to collection pipes, water storage basins and laboratory equipment. The ability to monitor these systems in real-time means that potential problems such as a burst water main, a slow leak, a clogged drain or a hazardous sewage overflow can be quickly identified and resolved or even predicted and prevented. The system even taps into geo-spatial data to pinpoint the exact location of problem areas. And as an added benefit, consumers who get a detailed breakdown of their water use tend to modify their consumption patterns accordingly. While information technology is not going to directly increase the water supply - it can guide us as to more efficient use. Smart water grid is not a one-time technology but rather a road map to help water providers reach a more efficient, dynamic system. No matter where they are on the roadmap solutions exist to help them move along whether it is simple data integration and monitoring to more sophisticated sensor networks and analytics.

Challenges
What we need today is intense collaboration amongst the stakeholders across geographies and the water ecosystem. As water management issues continue to mount and costs continue to increase, information technology and collaborative innovation will play an instrumental role helping communities, businesses, and governments deal with the tremendous complexity ahead. The combination of volumes of data, the need for mining across different and new data types and the demand for real-time responses requires a new kind of water management intelligence and models that encompass scalable, statistical algorithms, and massively parallel approaches. Current data infrastructures limited in scalability and interoperability inhibit timely and effective decision making across departments and organizations. Next generation water management systems need to be more flexible while providing more robust real-time analytics, modeling, and decision support capabilities. Also it is important to interlock with funding agencies such as World Bank, IFC as well as NGOs.

References
1. 2. 3. 4. http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/coming-soon-smart-water-grids/17518 http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4704 http://cseindia.org/node/4014 http://www.sustainabilityoutlook.in/content/smart-water-grid-innovations-can-tackle-water-problems-indiasays-ibm