Wastewater is not considered different from freshwater in recent years and is often termed as 'used water' or 'return flow' that can be reused. This realisation of the advantages of wastewater has led many states to devise policy measures that prescribe wastewater allocations for various users. However, the stigma associated with wastewater still remains among new users, and questions around the un-viability of safe wastewater use prevents states from realising the full potential of wastewater as a resource informs this paper titled 'Unequal wastewater rights and claims in Gujarat: Institutional dynamics between urban and rural' in Water Alternatives.
Wastewater, a contested resource
In India, recent policies on wastewater encourage the reuse of wastewater within the city for gardening, car washing, flushing, construction, recreation, and industrial use by changing its current rural use for agriculture. However, growing freshwater scarcity and the realisation of the advantages of using wastewater for crops had led many peri-urban and rural farmers to adopt wastewater irrigation. Thus, wastewater is rapidly becoming a resource with great value for supporting the already distressed agricultural economies, while an effort is also being made towards Resource Recovery and Reuse (RRR) following the principle of the circular economy, in urban areas.
The main contestations between urban and rural areas arise in the case of reduced river flows, as in the case of the conflict between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states, where wastewater produced from the city of Bengaluru has been diverted away from being disposed into the river and Sholapur, Maharashtra, where livelihood loss of farmers has occurred alongside the thermal power wastewater reuse.
Wastewater use in Rajkot, Gujarat
Thus who owns the wastewater that comes out of a city and who has the right to benefit from wastewater is now becoming a contentious issue. The paper discusses the findings of a study that explores the dynamics of wastewater use in the city of Rajkot and its surroundings in Gujarat, India.
Rajkot is in Saurashtra region of Gujarat, spread across both banks of the Aji River, which flows through the city, dividing it into two parts. The RMC area has two dams on the river and six operational STPs. Currently, Rajkot receives a total freshwater supply of 304.6 million litres per day (MLD), of which 64.6 MLD is from its local source and the rest are from distant sources.
Water is brought to the city via pipelines or canals from the Sardar Sarovar Dam, and the city’s overall water consumption is around 343.6 MLD while the total quantity of wastewater generated is 274.9 MLD. Of this, 170 MLD is treated by the six STPs of the city while the remaining 104.9 MLD of wastewater is released untreated into the watercourses.
The study finds that:
Individual rural users are the largest section using wastewater in Rajkot
The rural agrarian sector has been using wastewater for a long time and farmers continue to use it as it is known to recycle nutrients back into the soil and help crops. While wastewater use has increased with the increasing production in Rajkot and ULBs are fully responsible for its reuse, they have no obligation to continue its supply to their rural counterparts, the Gram Panchayats, though they are major users. In contrast, the urban sector completely waives their use rights while individual rural users are the largest section of people using wastewater in Rajkot.
However, rural users do not make any claims on it as it contains faecal matter and the public health discourses may cause its use to be injuncted. Thus, for a user, the 'interest' to claim right over wastewater has to do with the availability of complementary resources. Thus, a farmer will use wastewater for irrigation if he/she benefits from it. In contrast, a rightsholder such as an industry waives it. Thus lack of ‘interest’ or ‘will’ increase the probability of abandoning the wastewater reuse, leading to the unsuccessful execution of wastewater reuse projects. This unwillingness to exercise rights to use wastewater was found to be a barrier to ULBs who did not fulfil the targets of wastewater reuse prescribed in reuse policies.
Wastewater distribution and payment policies are inequitable
When wastewater is considered an economic good, it is expected that wastewater users pay for it, thus mandating that the rural sector pays for it to avail it. Such a policy is made so that capital-intensive wastewater treatment costs may be recovered from its users and not necessarily fully from polluters. It is to be noted that more and more fresh water is being diverted to industries and urban areas from rural and agricultural sectors. Despite the cities being hailed as economic engines, the payment for freshwater diverted to them and for treating wastewater generated by them is scant. In Rajkot’s city budget for 2021, the outstanding freshwater payment was Rs 900 million and the urban users have not been paying for freshwater transfers from long distances.
Thus, the rural sector is at a disadvantage as its fresh water is being diverted to cities and the resulting wastewater generated by the cities is being held there, with the cities having the authority and executive rights to decide whether wastewater will be transported to the rural areas or provided for other uses like industrial and municipal.
Management of wastewater should be assigned to rural local bodies
Most wastewater generated by the cities flows back into rural areas where it is being used. Thus, it is important that the task of development and management of wastewater be assigned to rural local bodies (gram panchayats) and users argues the paper.
If wastewater is considered similar to freshwater, reservoirs of wastewater and canals need to be constructed that to convey it to where it will be used. While drinking water is brought from dams via canals, wastewater treatment can operate at the level of rural users through development and management rights granted to rural groups and panchayats to treat the wastewater produced by the city and brought to them.
Thus Rajkot’s wastewater, a redundant resource for the city, could support the livelihoods of many in its sewer-command that will continue to grow with the city. Thus, the city can become the catchment of wastewater for benefiting the sewer command hinterlands. This can include recognising the sewer-command as a 'wastewater recycle zone' with an intermediary to facilitate it to become safe as in other special economic zones.
Making the invisible wastewater users visible is important
The existing rights do not account for the inclusion of existing users, and there is a big gap in recognising them. Recognising existing users is a necessity for the rights framework. However, we do not have adequate information on existing users in cities like Rajkot and an accounting of existing users will help not only in determining rights but also in predicting future use.
Wastewater users are invisible but have an important role to play in developing a sustainable relationship between environmental, economic, and technical dimensions of water-wastewater metabolism. Making them visible is crucial for attaining social equity in wastewater use, argues the paper.
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