Freshwater is rapidly depleting due to unchecked utilization and climate change. While we progress towards a more convenient and advanced way of living, urbanization has led to rising temperatures, depletion of resources, and creating imbalances in ecosystems. Governments, activists, and citizens of the world are recognizing the ailing effects of climate change and increasingly dedicating their efforts towards tackling these. The most visible change is the alteration of precipitation patterns globally – irregular rainfall causing both flooding and drought, snow cover in mountainous regions being completely disrupted and at times disappearing too.   

Several such climate change concerns are directly linked with water, and inadequate infrastructural support to conduct wastewater treatment and control water leakages are adding to the shortage of water. Therefore, on this World Water Day, it becomes critical for us to identify the need for robust, strategic and efficient infrastructure. This helps protect and manage water, ultimately moving a step closer to winning the climate change battle. 

Need for green infrastructure 

While urban India keeps expanding to contribute to the country’s overall development, it also poses a challenge if available resources are not managed efficiently. With cities expected to grow, it is fair to assume that the consumption of available resources would also shoot up as urban areas are exceedingly dependent on water, be it for domestic and commercial water usage or industrial purposes. The future definitely calls for a supply of vital resources such as water to be available in abundance for all sorts of needs. 

Water plays an essential role in building our cities and the need for green infrastructure in planning smarter cities is crucial.  A major advantage of developing green infrastructure is the long-term benefit it can have in conserving our resources such as energy and water. Through climate-resistant infrastructure, acute crises such as flooding caused during heavy monsoons or poor water networks can be easily mitigated. Alongside this is the added advantage of the many avenues opened for water reuse in both urban and rural scenarios. Similar practices are already being followed in countries like Denmark, where cities are designed in such a way that floodwater is collected for reuse without causing any damage. 

Recognizing the importance of green infrastructure, the shift to adopt clean energy in the country has already been initiated by the government through programs such as the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme, which aims to add renewable power plants to the national power grid for a total renewable energy capacity of 22750 MW by 2022. Additional allocations to institutions like Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) were announced in the Union Budget 2021 which highlights the government’s commitment in promoting green and sustainable solutions. Programs like these are a reassurance that we are moving towards building a green tomorrow through smartly designing our infrastructure. 

Augmenting water management technologies to fight climate change 

The technological intervention has provided great scope to develop solutions that ensure minimal wastage of water while consuming lesser energy. With the help of digital technologies, municipalities can be more mindful of water distribution in cities and towns to ensure better water conservation. For example, a concept as simple as monitoring the water pressure in a pipe line can drastically reduce water leakages as well as save power. Additionally, choosing to equip buildings with intelligent pumps can contribute to sustainable, energy-efficient operations with energy usage happening only where required. 

Digital pumps designed with the internet of things (IoT) and data analytics features have the potential to collect and study data for predictive maintenance of the pump system. This further reduces the downtime as failures and errors are anticipated beforehand, therefore accounting for cheaper operational costs for infrastructure. Hence, digitalization is spearheading the fight against climate change and can accelerate the development of green infrastructure by making it simpler and more effective.

Sustainable water governance for a green tomorrow 

With the global movement emerging to combat climate change, any governance with an effort to regulate it is likely to be steered by the principle of sustainability. Thus, recycling processes are going to take the lead in water management as collecting and treating wastewater for industrial, as well as domestic purposes will play a huge role in creation of a water-secure world. 

The scope for participation of private organizations to support the growth of green infrastructure can also introduce advanced solutions that are reliable, futuristic, and sustainable in the long run. For example, the Jal Jeevan Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission recently shortlisted several top-notch technologies such as Grundfos’ AQPure as innovative technologies for the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation’s innovation portal. 

As evidenced by any large movement that seeks to enforce positive change, success here will hinge on a syndicate of the government, private players, and the citizens of this country. It is thus essential that we all collaborate in this shared space, automatically creating an ecosystem that sincerely promotes saving our water sources and making urban and rural areas more capable of handling future water crises. This will enable a holistic approach towards the way we view the management and usage of water and hasten the attainment of a greener, more sustainable tomorrow.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house