2023

ENSURING
WATER
SECURITYWhite Paper.

DisclaimerT

he views, opinions, positions and recommendations expressed in this White Paper are solely those of the authors, task
force members and contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U20 or any of its chairs, conveners, andpartners. Many of the references in this White Paper will direct the reader to sites operated by third parties. Neither
the institutions nor the authors of this White Paper have reviewed all of the information on these sites or the accuracy orreliability of any information, data, opinions, advice or statements on these sites.
The White Paper should be referenced as follows:
Urban 20 (2023) White Paper on “Ensuring Water Security”, India

Ensuring
Water Security
White Paper

Table of Contents

01
02
03
04
05

Introduction
Water security : Key challenges
Recommendations for strengthening
integrated water management in cities
Conclusion
AnnexureContributors
U20 ADVISORS
Hitesh Vaidya
Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), India

Kanak Tiwari
Programme Director - Urban Strategy Unit, NIUA, India
Head - U20 Technical Secretariat

Nilesh Prakash Rajadhyaksha
Programme Director - Urban Strategy Unit, NIUA, India
Head - U20 Technical Secretariat

TASK FORCE MEMBERS
Victor R. Shinde (Convener)
Head, Climate Centre for Cities, NIUA, India

Tony Wong
Professor, Monash Art Design and Architecture, Monash University, Australia

Himanshu Kulkarni
Scientist Emeritus, Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management, India

Chris Dickens
Principal Researcher, International Water Management Institute, Sri Lanka

Cecilia Tortajada
Professor, Environmental Innovation, University of Glasgow, UK

Nitin Bassi
Senior Programme Lead, Council on Energy, Environment and Water, India

Vishnu Prasad Pandey
Professor, Centre for Water Resources Studies, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

6 Urban 20 2023 White Paper

Alpana Jain
Programme Lead, Cities Programme, the Nature Conservancy, India

Rajib Shaw
Professor, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Japan

Anshuman
Associate Director, Water Resources, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India

Rajiv Ranjan Mishra
Formerly Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga, India

RESEARCH TEAM
Ishleen Kaur
Senior Environment Specialist, NIUA, India

Kaveri Bahure
Research Associate, Climate Centre for Cities, NIUA, India

Tarini Gupta
Associate, Urban Strategy Unit, NIUA, India

Harsh Shah
Deputy Team Leader, U20 Unit, NIUA, India

Arunkumar Subramanian
Senior Associate, U20 Unit, NIUA, India

DESIGN TEAM
Kaveri Bahure
Research Associate, Climate Centre for Cities, NIUA, India

Kapil Kumar
Associate, Urban Strategy Unit, NIUA, India

Ensuring Water Security 7

Abbreviations
BOT
DESC
EDS
EPC
EU
G20
GHG
HAM
ICT
IEC
IUWM
RCA
SDG
U20
UN
URMP
WSUD

Build-Operate-Transfer
Dorset Environmental Science Centre
Event Detection System
Engineering-Procurement-Contracts
European Union
Group of Twenty
Greenhouse gas
Hybrid Annuity Model
Information and Communications Technology
Information, Education, and Communication
Integrated urban water management
River Cities Alliance
Sustainable Development Goal
Urban 20
United Nations
Urban River Management Plan
Water Sensitive Urban Design

01/
Introductionकाल करे सो आज कर,आज करे सो अबपल में परलय होएगी,बहुिर करेगा कब(What you can do tomorrow do it today, what you can do today, do it now. There is no time like the present)

Kabir, Indian mystic poet and saintIn so many ways, this 15th century Indian saying, resonates
aptly with the urgency required in the present times totake actions for water security on multiple fronts.

First, already about two billion people worldwide do nothave access to safe drinking water1, and roughly half of theworld’s population is experiencing severe water scarcity forat least part of the year.2 These numbers are expected toincrease, exacerbated by climate change and population
growth3. Second, globally, 44% of household wastewater
is not safely treated4. Given that water quality data is notcollected routinely in a majority of countries means thatover 3 billion people are at risk because their exposure toenvironmental faecal contamination increases their alreadystressed health vulnerabilities. Third, around 74% of natural
disasters between 2001 and 2018 were water-related andduring the past 20 years, floods and droughts affected over3 billion people, and caused economic damage of almost
US$700 billion5. Alarmingly, since 2000, flood-related
disasters have increased by 134%6. Inevitably, all of these
impacts the poor and disadvantaged disproportionally in all
global economies.

Achieving water security is inherently central to humansecurity. A case in point is the synergy of the Sustainable
Development Goal for water (SDG-6) with almost all other
SDGs (Figure 1). A study7 of the influence of good water
management on the 169 targets of the 17 SDGs revealed
that it directly influences 50 of these targets and indirectly
influences a further 34. The interconnections between thegoals, however, may manifest differently in contexts ofdeveloped as compared to developing countries.
Ironically, for a resource that is undeniably vital forhumankind’s survival, water is itself under threat due
to anthropogenic activities. The concerns with water
security are not new. Approximately four decades ago,
Malin Fredrika Sofia Sundberg-Falkenmark, through aseminal work8, introduced the Falkenmark Index to link per
capita availability of water with sustainable exploitation ofwater resources. Since then, while the knowledge on thesubject matter has improved rapidly, its application intoon-the-ground action has been relatively slower.
One of the reasons for this gap between knowledge
and implementation is that water security is perceived
differently by different disciplines9. This means, for example,

1  UN Water (2021). Summary Progress Update 2021: SDG 6 — water and sanitation for all. Accessed 01 June 2023 from website https://www.unwater.org/
publications/summary-progress-update-2021-sdg-6-water-and-sanitation-all
2  IPCC (2021). Sixth Assessment Report: Working Group II – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
3   World Meteorological Organisation (2021) State of Climate Services
4  UN Water (2021). Summary Progress Update 2021: SDG 6 — water and sanitation for all. Accessed 01 June 2023 from website https://www.unwater.org/
publications/summary-progress-update-2021-sdg-6-water-and-sanitation-all
5  UN Water (2020). World Water Development Report 2020: Water and Climate Change
6  World Meteorological Organisation (2021) State of Climate Services
7  Wong, T.H.F (2016). Human Settlements – A Framing Paper for the High-Level Panel on Water, Australian Water Partnership, ISBN 978-1-921543-20-3,
15pp. https://waterpartnership.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/HLPW-Human-Settlements.pdf
8  Falkenmark M. (1986). Fresh water: Time for a modified approach. Ambio,15:192–200.
9  Cook, C. and Bakker, K. (2012). Water security: Debating an emerging paradigm. Global Environmental Change, 22(1): 94–102.

10 Urban 20 2023 White Paper

SDG

Figure 1: Synergies of SDG 6 with other SDGs
Source: Authors’ depictionthat while on one hand agricultural stakeholders equate
water security as an input for food security; on the other
hand, public health practitioners view water security
through the lens of supply security and prevention ofcontamination in the water. It was only in 2013 that UN
Water proposed a universal definition for water security
as “the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable
access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality
water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, andsocio-economic development, for ensuring protection against
water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and forpreserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and politicalstability”, which is widely accepted today.

management is even more crucial in urban areas, giventhat urbanisation is a core driving element of demographic
and water mega-trends10. According to the World Bank,11approximately 56% of the world’s population i.e., 4.4 billion
inhabitants live in cities. This trend is expected to continue,
with the urban population more than doubling its current
size by 2050, at which point nearly 7 of 10 people will livein cities. This will invariably lead to increased demands onwater resources. Statistics suggest that between 2000 and
2021 the number of city inhabitants lacking safely managed
drinking water nearly doubled12. With global water demand
projected to increase by 20-30% by 205013, the situation will
only exacerbate unless corrective action is urgently taken.

This notion of water security clearly extends beyond thephysical availability of water and suggests a multi-faceted
framing of the definition of water security that must
address different dimensions. Most countries in the world
are exposed to any combinations of these dimensions at
different times and the relative significance of each one isdetermined by site-specific institutional, biophysical andclimatic context.

The scope of urban water management generally involves
four aspects—(a) protecting water sources and ecosystems
and harnessing them sustainably, (b) providing good quality
and reliable water supply to the residents, (c) collecting,treating, and safely disposing the used water (also referred
to as wastewater) that is generated within the city, and(d) drainage and flood management including managementof storm-water runoff as a resource and for protection of
the receiving water environment.

That water security is multi-dimensional automatically calls
for a coordinated management approach to achieve it in aholistic manner. The need for such an approach for water

At its core, contemporary integrated management of
the urban water sector is a social-technical endeavour

10  Chapagain, K., Aboelnga, H.T., Babel, M.S., Ribbe, L., Shinde, V.R., Sharma, D. and Dang, N.M. (2022). Urban water security: A comparative assessment andpolicy analysis of five cities in diverse developing countries of Asia. Environmental Development, Volume 43:100713.
11  World Bank (2023).
12  UN Water (2021). Summary Progress Update 2021: SDG 6 — water and sanitation for all. Accessed 01 June 2023 from website https://www.unwater.org/
publications/summary-progress-update-2021-sdg-6-water-and-sanitation-all
13  UN (2018). World Water Development Report 2018.

Ensuring Water Security 11

in harnessing science and technology, while cognisant of
the social and institutional drivers underpinning urban
water governance. Furthermore, there are environmental
stewardship, natural capital regenerative, ecologicallandscapes and ecosystem services, and urban liveability
dimensions that communities are now demanding.

to harness in many parts of the world. Likewise, somesolutions involve integrating infrastructure planning, spatial
land use planning and urban design that not only help
in alleviating flood risks but also augment availability ofusable water, and other multiple environmental and urban
liveability benefits.

Within an urban setting, there are multiple sources ofwater that could be use on a fit-for-purpose basis, i.e.
for consumptive and non-consumptive purposes. Key tomanaging and harnessing these resources is identifying andstrengthening the management synergies among the water
sources while reducing trade-off in terms of infrastructure
investments and environmental impacts (Figure 2). Such a
synergistic relationship will help make the transition fromlinear management of water resources to circular andintegrated management through the widely acclaimed
Reduce-Recycle-Reuse-Restore-Recharge principles14.

This white paper is an earnest endeavour to facilitate achange in the current water management practices incities that are typically engineering-driven, carried out
in ‘silos’, and rely on grey infrastructural interventions. It
seeks to do so by proposing tangible recommendations
for strengthening integrated water management incities— under the ambit of the Urban 20 (U20) priority area
“Ensuring Water Security”, as part of the sixth cycle of theU20 under India’s G20 Presidency.

Overall, integrated management of the water sector canchange the ‘business as usual’ approach towards water
management and carve out space for application of
non-conventional solutions. For example, several of thesesolutions help reduce the demand for freshwater (demand
management), which is increasingly becoming difficult

The white paper canvasses actions to operationalisecontemporary global initiatives and narratives forurban water security by adaptation to local institution
and biophysical context. The SDG 6 Global Acceleration
Framework, for example, is one such initiative where one of
the key thrust areas is to make SDG 6 everyone’s business byfostering collaboration across sectors, which is at the heartof integrated water management.

14  Kulkarni, H. and Shah, M. (2015). Urban water systems in India: Typologies and Hypotheses. Economic and Political Weekly, 50:30.

e
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CONSUMPTIVE USENON CONSUMPTIVE USE

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a
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o
av

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ura
co
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water capture
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USED
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GROUND
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Figure 2 : Synergistic circular interactions among the elements of the urban water sector
1

Source: Authors’ depiction

14  Kulkarni, H. and Shah, M. (2015). Urban water systems in India: Typologies and Hypotheses. Economic and Political Weekly, 50:30.

12 Urban 20 2023 White Paper

02/
Water Security : Key Challenges

Currently, the progress that countries make against theindicators of SDG 6 is considered, in some way, to bea measure of the status of water security. However,as highlighted in the previous section, the gamut of water
security is far more than what is captured in the SDG 6
indicators (Refer annexure). Moreover, these indicators
are measured at a national level that includes both urban
and rural areas and may mask issues at city-scale. For
intra-country analysis of urban water security, it would
be prudent for nations to design evaluation systems that
capture the management interactions among the four
dimensions of integrated water management—water
resources and ecosystems, water supply, used water,and drainage and flood management. There are several
examples of such evaluation systems15 16 17, that may be
used for this purpose.
An assessment18 of G20 countries on various parametersof water security using the SDG indicators brings out
some interesting findings. From the standpoint of urban
population access to safe drinking water, nine out of thetwenty countries claim 100% coverage. All other countries
report more than 95% coverage on this indicator. Likewise,
all countries report more than 80% coverage against theindicator pertaining to urban population access to basic andsafely managed sanitation. In contrast, only seven out of thetwenty countries have reported that 80% or more of theirurban household wastewater is safely treated. The progressin the remaining countries is substantially lower.
A major area of concern is the significantly low reuse oftreated used water in almost all G20 countries despite thefact that a significant percentage of used water is treatedin most countries. There are countries such as France, Italy,
China, Germany and the UK that treat more than 95% ofused water and yet the reuse percentage ranges fromonly 2-3% in Italy and Germany to only 17-18% in China
and France with the UK in the middle at only 8%. In a few

countries, while the percentage of reuse is high, the volume
of water actually reused is quite low as the percentage ofused water treated is very low. Given that used water isa significant resource and instances of water shortages
have been on the rise in the G20 nations, there has to be aconcerted effort both towards treatment of used water aswell as the reuse of treated used water.
In terms of water related disasters, numerous studies19
20, suggest that all G20 nations are vulnerable to extreme
events, especially floods. China, India, Indonesia and Japan
have the highest proportion of the population vulnerable toflooding. In case of the first three, the absolute number ofpeople at risk is extremely high as the total population ofChina, India and Indonesia is also significantly high. Elevencountries—Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France,
Mexico, Japan, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, USA, andthe UK have more than 80% of the population living in urban
areas, with a number of cities densely populated. Hence, itis the urban populace that is most at risk in these countries,
pointing towards the need for developing urban flood
management strategies as part of the integrated water
management framework.
With climate change already beginning to manifest its
effects, the challenges for water management in cities
are becoming more pronounced. Hence, the conventional
management protocols practiced thus far may notnecessarily be appropriate for addressing new andemerging issues. Cities and countries that have performed
well on water management in the past will also need to beagile in terms of adapting their systems to respond to suchchanges.
Since the turn of the century, the advocacy for an integrated
approach for water management in cities has been louder
and stronger resulting in different variants of this approach,e.g., water-sensitive cities in Australia21, sponge cities in

15  Babel, M.S, Shinde, V.R., Sharma, D. and Dang, N.M. (2020). Measuring urban water security: A vital step for climate change adaptation. Environmental
Research, 185, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109400.
16  Chang, Y. and Zhu, D. (2020). Urban water security of China’s municipalities: Comparison, features and challenges. Journal of Hydrology, Volume 587,
125023
17  Krueger, E., Rao, P.S.C., and Borchardt ((2019). Quantifying urban water supply security under global change. Global Environmental Change, 56: 66-74
18  SDG Tracker accessed on 5 June 2023 from website https://hlpf.un.org/tools/sdg-tracker
19  Rentschler, J., Salhab, M. and Jafino, B.A. (2022). Flood exposure and poverty in 188 countries. Nature Communications, Volume 13, Article, 3527.
20  Hirabayashi, Y., Mahendran, R., Koirala, S., Konoshima, L., Yamazaki, D., Watanabe, S., Kim, H. and Kanae, S. (2013). Global flood risk under climatechange. Nature Climate Change, 3: 816–821
21  Wong, T.H.F., Rogers, B. and Brown, R. (2020). Transforming cities through water sensitive principles and practices, Perspective OneEarth, 3(4): 436–447

Ensuring Water Security 13

China22, and urban river management plans in India23,
among others. Adoption of these concepts/ philosophies,
and others shows that some initial traction has begun for
cities across the world to adopt integrated managementof water. This will have to be progressively enhanced in
the future and ideally, become a norm. While there aresporadic examples of integrated urban water managementin G20 countries, many cities have been unable to adopt it
enthusiastically for several reasons.
First, the interface between urban and rural is consistently
becoming blurred. The omnipresent peri-urban context of
expanding urban spaces makes it challenging to demarcate
the necessary ‘boundary conditions’ for management.
Not only does this have implications on sustainable use ofavailable water sources, the ambiguity of jurisdiction affects
the ‘formal’ or legal provision of water supply to such areas.
Second, rapid urbanisation results in a perpetual ‘catch-up’
game for city officials to augment supplies that areinvariably falling short of a growing demand, leaving themwith very little scope and bandwidth to attempt new andcreative approaches.
Third, there is a genuine lack of awareness and knowledge
about the need and benefits of integrated water
management in cities, especially in smaller cities. The focus
is predominantly on the ‘engineering’ water-supply related
aspects of water management. The lack of a broader
perspective offers little to enable water managers and city
officials to challenge the ‘business as usual’ scenario. Veryfew cities and countries have undertaken expansion of thecapacities of the ‘water departments’, for example, in termsof expertise required with new technology or for assessing/monitoring the socio-economic and environmental impactsof adopting any solution.

Fourth, water managers are not equipped well enough tohandle contentious tradeoffs. This is particularly relevant
when dealing with aspects of economic developmentvs environmental protection. In the absence of skills andinstitutional capacity to judiciously maneuver through suchtradeoffs, invariably economic development takes priority
over ecological considerations instead of the two being
complementary to each other.
Fifth, the institutional inertia and silos within thegovernment set-up makes it challenging to coordinate andwork together towards implementation of integrated water
management strategies24. Fragmentation in the functioning
and prioritisation of projects in isolation by different
organisations often lead to competing projects that counterweigh the co-benefits.
Additionally, the following aspects also limit a city’scapacity or vision to implement integrated water
management strategies:
a. paucity of financial resourcesb. lack of spatially disaggregated data required for
informed decision makingc. piecemeal approach/ knee-jerk reactions towards
addressing problems in part, not considering theinter-connectedness of the elements of the urban water
cycle.
How the G20 nations approach the pursuit of integrated
water management will have far reaching implications not
only within the G20 community but beyond. This will becentral to action plans for addressing the glaring gaps in thesustainable and efficient management of water resourcesthat averts humanitarian, economic and developmental
challenges.

22  Jiang, Y., Zevenbergen, C. and Ma. Y. (2018). Urban pluvial flooding and stormwater management: A contemporary review of China’s challenges and“sponge cities” strategy, Environmental Science and Policy, Volume 80: 132–143
23  NIUA and NMCG (2020). Urban River Management Plan: Components and Guidance Note. Accessed 15 March 2023 from website https://niua.in/waterandenvironment/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/URMP-Framework-pdf
24  Bassi, N. and Kumar, M.D. (2012). Addressing the civic challenges: perspective on institutional change for sustainable urban water management in India.
Environment and Urbanisation Asia, 3(1), pp.165-183.

14 Urban 20 2023 White Paper

03/
Recommendations forstrengthening integrated water
management in cities

I

ntegrated water management is a process and not an
outcome. This is because the water management needsin cities, and related responses, are very dynamic, andchange as a city grows and expands. Additionally, there
are many challenges faced by the water sector today (e.g.,
climate change, pandemics, depleting resources) thatwere not so relevant in the past. Hence, contemporary
urban water management models will need to be flexible
to address not just current but future needs as well. Cities
will, therefore, need to adopt a progressive approach for
implementing integrated water management, aspiring tocontinuously improve on the existing condition, while atthe same time account for new and emerging needs andcontexts.
Additionally, it is becoming increasingly evident that
integrated water management is a transdisciplinary subject
that requires water managers to work on aspects thatare beyond their core domain of expertise. This includes
the indirect, yet critical, inter-linkages of water withgender equity, poverty alleviation, livelihoods and othersocial dimensions. Similarly, protection and regenerationof forests, soils, wetlands etc., contributes towards water
availability and water quality, and strengthens the resilienceof watersheds, thus complementing investments in physicalinfrastructure and disaster preparedness.25
In order to facilitate this paradigm shift in the pursuit ofenhanced integrated water management, this paper
proposes an eight-point agenda for cities to consider andadopt.
1. Re-imagine the role of water managers
2. Leverage urban planning instruments to promote
integrated urban water management
3. Strengthen the data ecosystem within cities
4. Integrate nature-based solutions in urban water
management
5. Invest in social and human capital Transition frommono-functional to multi-functional infrastructure

6. Explore non-traditional financing sources
7. Encourage city partnerships and networks

3.1 Re-imagine the role of water
managers
Integrated water management requires a transdisciplinary
approach for implementation, which essentially meanswater managers of the future will need to have knowledge
about different disciplines and the ability to applythat knowledge to address the management agenda
comprehensively. For example; in addition to engineeringknowledge about hydrology, hydraulics and catchment
dynamics; designing a storm water management system
will also require knowledge about ecology (to manage theecosystem within the buffers), urban design (to integratefeatures like bioswales and rain-gardens in the larger
stormwater management plan), sociology (to influence
behavioural change for maintenance of the system),landscape architecture (to ensure seamless integration into
the city profile), among others.
This is starkly different from what is commonly
practiced today, where the focus of water managers
is disproportionately skewed in favour of engineeringsolutions. Engineers conceptualise, plan and implement
most of the water management agenda for the city, whichinvariably results in largely hard infrastructural solutions.
Cities must invest in building capacities at different levelsof governance in transdisciplinary thinking and application.
Engineers and managers of the future should be trained insystems thinking.
Even with improved capacities, a key impediment for water
managers is the lack of coordination and cooperation
amongst different water-related agencies. This is lesschallenging in cities like Singapore where the water sector
is being managed by an apex agency. Such a model may
work in cities where the scale of operations is manageable.

25  https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/sustainable-development-goals/why-do-sustainable-development-goals-matter/goal-6

Ensuring Water Security 15

However, in larger cities there will invariably be morethan one agency responsible for managing the different
elements of the water sector. In such cities, it is vital to havea coordinated effort among all these agencies in order toachieve the outcomes of integrated water management.
Hence, while the agencies may continue to operate
independently, the horizontal channels of communication
among the agencies must be kept open and ideally acommon database. This is to ensure that an agency isaware of the plans and initiatives of the others, which willaid inter-sectoral decision making. Melbourne is a good
example of this model, where water-related agencies
meet in a workshop-like format every six months to share
information about their plans and projects. The city also
has an overarching agency encompassing environment,water, land planning, and climate change to foster greatercollaboration and accountability for integrated water
management.

considerations, the last two decades have seen a paradigm
shift in the way city growth is planned and conceptualised.
Increasingly, city planning instruments like Master Plans andDevelopment Plans are mainstreaming concepts such as
resource optimisation, liveable cities etc.

3.2 Leverage urban planning
instruments to promote integrated
urban water management

Integrated water management is a transformational
approach that requires a departure from the normal anddoing things differently. An ideal avenue for facilitating suchtransformational thinking in a city is at the planning stage,e.g., through planning instruments like the Master Plan.
A key characteristic of such instruments is that they arelegally binding documents. Hence, cities should leveragethese to create an enabling environment for the scaling
up of integrated water management approaches acrossthe city. Box 1 presents an example of the how the draft
Master Plan for Delhi (2041) has promoted integrated water
management in the city.

Growth in cities, especially in the developing nations of theG20, is inevitable. There is compelling evidence that until
recently the sole objective of this growth was the pursuitof economic development, which unfortunately came at
the cost of depleting natural resources including water.
With improved awareness that sustainable economic
development cannot be achieved without environmental

Box 1: Salient featuresof the integrated water
management provisions
in the Draft Master Plan
for Delhi (2041)

1

Traditionally, such Plans have been solely concernedwith land-use planning. However, in recent years thesePlans have emerged as a strategic enabler to influence
the direction cities will take to make them more vibrant,
liveable and productive26. For example, one of the targetsof the Plan Melbourne (2050) is to reduce its greenhousegas emissions to net zero by 2050 as a means to combat
climate change. Similarly, Los Angeles’ General Plan (2035)
has marked Significant Ecological Areas to conserve genetic
and physical diversity within the LA county by designating
biological resource areas that are capable of sustaining
themselves.

The draft Master Plan for Delhi (2041) has adopted the integrated water management
approach that aims to manage all water-linked (i.e., water supply, wastewater, andstorm water) infrastructure together. The Plan recognises that new sources of water
are difficult to harness, and therefore, Delhi will need to adopt a demand management
strategy. Accordingly, the emphasis is on reducing the reliance on the groundwaterand freshwater resources and move towards non-conventional water sources such astreated wastewater to meet almost 50% of the freshwater demand. Rooftop rainwater
harvesting is already mandatory for plot sizes above 100 square meters in the city.
The Plan proposes both macro and micro-level interventions ranging from plot level,neighbourhood level, to city-region level.
The Master Plan has also stipulated forward looking water-sensitive planning norms
for large-scale regeneration and greenfield development in the city. For example, thePlan calls for mandatory installation of decentralised wastewater treatment plants, dual
piping, water efficient plumbing fixtures, etc. in these areas. Furthermore, the Plan has
also provided avenues for implementation of Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD)
features such as bio-swales, retention ponds, and bio-drainage in low-lying areas,
roads, parks, etc. to reduce water logging incidents and recharge the groundwateraquifers.
The rejuvenation of water bodies through treated used water is also an important thrustarea of the draft MPD-41 targeted towards groundwater recharge and improving thehealth of water bodies in the city.

26  Shinde, V.R. and Sharma, L. (2021). Conservation, protection and management of urban groundwater through city Master Plans: A case of Indian cities
in UNESCO and UNESCO i-WSSM. The Role of Sound Groundwater Resources Management and Governance to Achieve Water Security (Series III). Global
Water Security Issues (GWSI) Series – No.3, UNESCO Publishing, Paris.

16 Urban 20 2023 White Paper3.3 Strengthen the data ecosystem
within cities
The importance of good quality data for decision making
cannot be overemphasised. In the context of integrated
urban water management, the need for this data iseven more significant to understand and account for theinteractions and interdependence among the different
elements as well as agencies of the urban water sector—water resources and ecosystems, water supply, usedwater, and stormwater. Cities must invest in collecting andcollating all the relevant data required for decision making
and host it on a common platform that is accessible to allconcerned stakeholders.
The quality and resolution of the data is often a deciding
factor in determining the level of planning ambition. The
data attributes critical for integrated water management

Box 2: Application of
Artificial Intelligence forLeakage Prediction27

planning are existing land use maps; sources of water;water users by categories; water demand and wastewater
infrastructure; drainage network and infrastructure;green cover; spatial spread of water bodies; water
quality of sources; river ecosystem health; inter alia. The
availability of a GIS-based centralised database of spatiallydisaggregated water-related information is fast becoming
a necessity rather than an option. This can ensure regular
updating of water data, uniformity in data usage, andreduced duplication of similar efforts.
The need for integrated data collation and management
becomes all the more crucial to create an enabling
environment for the absorption of disruptive technologies
like artificial intelligence, which is already showing goodpromise in diverse areas of water management. Box 2
presents an example of the use of artificial intelligence inthe UK for detecting and predicting pipe bursts and leaks.

In the UK, the water supply is privately managed by water companies but regulated bya government body—Water Services Regulation Authority in England and Wales, and in
Scotland, Water Industry Commission. Since 2015, a large company has been using a tool
called Event Detection System (EDS) to detect and predict leakages in the water supply
system. EDS uses artificial neural networks to establish a relationship between pressureand flow with failure events (i.e., leakages or pipe bursts). Hence, the system collects realtime data from over seven thousand pressure and flow sensors every fifteen minutes
and compares those with incoming observations to collect different forms of evidence
about the failure event taking place. The evidence is processed using Bayesian Networks
to estimate the likelihood of the occurrence of the failure event in order to raise an alarm.
Hence, EDS effectively learns from historical bursts and other events to predict the futureones, which helps water managers take appropriate preventive action.

3.4 Integrate nature-based solutions inurban water management 27
Natural ecosystems have the unique ability to impart
provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services
for urban water management28. Ecosystems such asurban forests, wetlands, water bodies, rivers, and streams,
if in a healthy state, can provide several vital inputs for
implementing integrated urban water management. For
example, the ecosystem services provided urban rivers
include water provisioning, recycling and nutrient cycling,
and flood attenuation, among others. Similarly, in coastal
cities the benefits of mangrove swamps include regulating
flood, storm surges and erosion control, prevention of salt
water intrusion, and habitat to support greater biodiversity.
Activities directed at conserving natural capital and building
infrastructure that incorporate or harness these ecosystemservices are broadly referred to as nature-based solutions.
Cities must mainstream such solutions within their larger
integrated urban water management strategy to reap
multi-faceted benefits. A good starting point would be to
institutionalise the adoption of such thinking into national/
city level policy. Box 3 presents an example of India’s Urban
River Management Plan framework that requires river cities
in India to take actions for the protection and sustainable
management these natural assets.
Investing in the health of natural ecosystems can also
generate additional revenue for cities. For example, healthy
rivers boost real-estate values, as riverside properties
generally attract the highest prices. A study29 suggests that
improved landscapes and views of waterways can increase
property values in the UK between 6-8%.This can translate
into additional property tax revenue for the city government.

27  International Water Association (2020). Digital Water: Artificial Intelligence Solutions for the Water Sector. Accessed 09 May 2023 from website https://
iwa-network.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IWA_2020_Artificial_Intelligence_SCREEN.pdf
28  Bassi, N., Kumar, M.D., Sharma, A. and Pardha-Saradhi, P. (2014). Status of wetlands in India: A review of extent, ecosystem benefits, threats andmanagement strategies. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 2, pp.1-19.
29  RESTORE (2013). Rivers by design: Rethinking development and river restoration. Accessed on 15 June 2023 from website https://assets.publishing.
service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/297315/LIT8146_7024a9.pdf

Ensuring Water Security 17

Box 3: India’s Urban
River Management Plan
framework30

In 2021, India’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Jal Shakti
launched the Urban River Management Plan (URMP) framework with the objective toprovide river cities in India a common agenda for managing the urban river stretches so
as to improve overall water security of the city. At the heart of the URMP framework areten items against which each city must take action. These include (a) regulating activities
in the floodplain, (b) preventing the flow of pollution into the river and water bodies, (c)rejuvenating and reviving urban lakes and ponds, (d) enhancing the riparian vegetation
along the river edge, (e) increasing the reuse of treated used water, (f) maintaining theenvironmental flow in the river, (g) developing eco-friendly riverfronts, (h) leveraging the
economic value of the river in a sustainable manner, (i) inculcate river-sensitive behavior
among citizens, and (j) involve citizens in the river management.
Several Indian cities such as Ayodhya, Chattrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly
Aurangabad), Bareilly, Kanpur, and Moradabad have already used this framework
to prepare city-wide urban river management strategies linked to the overall water
management plan.

3.5 Transition from mono-functional tomulti-functional infrastructure
Among all infrastructural investments that a city makes,
investment in water infrastructure is one of the mostcapital-intensive. Cities in G20 nations like Argentina, Brazil,
China, Mexico, India, and Turkey are poised for making
massive infrastructural investments to enhance water
security. For example, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and
Urban Transformation in India launched in 2021 is a USD 37
Billion initiative for creating 500+ water-secure cities, withsignificant investments being made in new infrastructure
and infrastructural upgradation.
As cities begin to plan for infrastructural investment, there isa unique opportunity to expand the horizon and re-imagine
infrastructure to provide multiple benefits, water-related
or otherwise. For example, projects of storm water drains
may be conceptualised with green buffers that allow forrecreational use. Likewise, rejuvenation of a water body (e.g.,a lake) can be planned in such a way that it offers multiple
benefits—flood control, groundwater recharge, habitat forbiodiversity, creation of recreational spaces, among others.
This means that city managers and planners need to havean understanding of the type of ecosystem services that a
particular type of multi-functional infrastructural solution
could provide. This will equip them with a range of possible
opportunities to design interventions around specificproblems, and to identify the most appropriate locations forthe implementation of these interventions.
Multi-functional infrastructure is not only restricted toecosystem services but encompasses a include a range of
conventional urban services such as transport, drainage

and flood mitigation, open space, power etc. For example,
key transport connectors, waterways (drainage) and open
space corridors within a city have a particular strategic rolein fostering multifunctional infrastructure. 30
A subset of multi-functional infrastructure that has been
widely propagated in the recent past is green infrastructure.
This is particularly important from the climate change
standpoint, which undoubtedly is one of the greatest
challenges facing humankind in the present times. Green
infrastructure offers cities greater possibilities to address
the threat of climate change through both mitigation
and adaptation avenues. For example, from a climatechange mitigation perspective, a water body with a green
buffer can help reduce GHG emissions as well improvethe micro-climate by reducing the urban heat islandeffect. From an adaptation viewpoint, the same water
body can provide flood control and groundwater recharge
benefits. Countries like Canada, Denmark, Germany, Japan,
Netherlands, and Sweden have already created an enabling
environment for proliferating green infrastructure throughrelevant policies. This can serve as a useful reference fordeveloping countries of the G20 group to help institutionalise
the mandate of multi-functional infrastructure31. Box 4
presents an example of the European Union’s directive forpromoting green infrastructure.
Land is already a precious commodity in several G20 cities,
given the space crunch, cities cannot afford the luxuryof having mono-functional infrastructure for different
ecosystem services. Given its ability to provide land use
optimisation benefits, multi-functional infrastructure has tobe the way forward.

30  NIUA and NMCG (2020). Urban River Management Plan: Components and Guidance Note. Accessed 15 March 2023 from website https://niua.in/waterandenvironment/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/URMP-Framework-pdf.pdf
31 Cruz Ayala, M. B., Tortajada, C. (2023). Managed aquifer recharge in Mexico: Proposals for an improved legal framework and public policies. Water
International 48(1), 165–183.

18 Urban 20 2023 White Paper

Box 4: EU GreenInfrastructural Strategy32

The EU Green Infrastructure Strategy, officially titled, ‘Green Infrastructure: Enhancing
Europe’s Natural Capital’ is the European Union’s key policy document for green
infrastructure development. Adopted in 2013, its overall vision is to develop strategicallyplanned networks of natural and semi-natural areas, and connect them, to support themaintenance of ecosystem services, thereby promoting multifunctional landscapes.33
The Strategy promotes the development of green infrastructure across the EU to deliver
multiple benefits and contribute to sustainable growth. It guides its implementation
at EU, regional, national and local levels. Integration of green infrastructure in spatialplanning is also encouraged whenever it offers an alternative to, or complements grey
infrastructure. The other actions under the Strategy include improving the knowledge
base and promoting green innovation and evaluating opportunities for developinga trans-European green infrastructure network, similar to the existing networks fortransport, energy and ICT.

3.6 Invest in social and human capital
The water sector in a city embodies a system, a system
of interconnected elements and related stakeholders. For
effective implementation of integrated water management
in cities, each of these stakeholders has a different role toplay. Citizens are a primary stakeholder whose cooperationand support is vital for the fulfilment of any integrated water
management plan. This support becomes far easier tosolicit when they are aware of the issues at hand, and therole they could play to address those. There is compelling
evidence to suggest that several projects and initiatives
have failed because the citizens were not sufficiently
engaged in the project planning and implementation
stages.
A number of core integrated water management practices
are very challenging to implement without full support fromcitizens. Some of these include installing and maintaining
rainwater harvesting systems, adopting water efficient
fixtures, proper waste segregation to, mitigate pollution andBox 5: Lake Partners’
Programme (LPP) in
Ontario, Canada37

flooding, embracing used water for non-potable purposes34,
and willingness to pay for full-cost recovery of water
services.
Cities must invest in dedicated citizen engagement
initiatives to nurture a brand of water-sensitive
communities and citizens. These initiatives must notstop at the typical IEC (Information, Education, andCommunication) campaigns that are usually a one-way
communication medium. Instead, these initiatives shouldseek to pro-actively engage citizens in co-management of
the urban water sector through various modalities35. Thisis important to make that shift from ‘citizens as spectators’
to ‘citizens as actors’. This also sends out the message that
integrated water management cannot be the government’s
mandate alone. Citizens will need to step up and share theonus of action. There are notable examples36 within the G20
community where such proactive citizen engagement has
been achieved. Box 5 presents the case of a citizen science
initiative in Ontario, Canada.

The Lake Partners’ Program involves volunteer-based water-quality monitoring. It iscoordinated by the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks from the
Dorset Environmental Science Centre (DESC). Each year, more than 600 volunteers collectwater samples of ~550 lakes from over 800 sampling locations and send them, postage
paid, to the DESC where parameters such as total phosphorus, calcium and water
clarity are analysed. The data, published every January on the LPP webpage is used bygovernment agencies, members of the public, NGOs, academic researchers and private
consultants to assess and report on water quality in lakes across Ontario.

123 4 5 632  European Regional Development Fund (2017). Development of green infrastructure in EU Regions: Nature-based solutions delivering multiple benefits.
Accessed on 15 May from 2023https://www.interregeurope.eu/sites/default/files/inline/2017-05-12_PB_TO6-Green_infrastructure-final-compressed.pdf
33  Hermoso, V., Moran-Ordonez, A., Lanzas, M. and Brotons, L. (2020). Designing a network of green infrastructure for the EU. Landscape and Urban
Planning, Volume 196.
34   Tortajada, C. (2020). Contributions of recycled wastewater to clean water and sanitation Sustainable Development Goals. npj Clean Water 3(22)..
35  Taylor, J., Graham, M., Louw, A., Lepheana, A., Madikizela, B., Dickens, C., Chapman, D.V. and Warner, S. (2021). Social change innovations, citizen science,
miniSASS and the SDGs. Water Policy (2022) 24 (5): 708–717.
36  Taylor, J., Graham, M., Louw, A., Lepheana, A., Madikizela, B., Dickens, C., Chapman, D.V. and Warner, S. (2021). Social change innovations, citizen science,
miniSASS and the SDGs. Water Policy (2022) 24 (5): 708–717.
37  Government of Ontario (2020). Ontario Lake Partners Programme. Accessed on 5 May 2023 from website https://open.canada.ca/data/en/
dataset/7ce06d85-7cc3-4ae3-a5c3-37d7c8d55b08

Ensuring Water Security 19

3.7 Explore non-traditional financing
sources
One of the biggest barriers to water security enhancement
in cities is the lack of financial resources. Some water
infrastructure required for IUWM is typically capitalintensive, long-lived with high sunk costs. It requires a highinitial investment followed by a very long payback period.
Many of the benefits accrued from these cannot be easily
monetised, undermining the potential revenue flows and the“risk-return” balance for potential investors. The availabilityof finance, in many ways, is key to determining the levelof ambition that a city can target for integrated water
management.

Box 6: India’s Hybrid
Annuity Model for
financing infrastructure38

Some degree of traditional financing can be secured fromearmarked budgets within federal- or state -funded
schemes, or even from a city’s own resources. However,
because the financing requirement are significant, cities in
G20 nations must start exploring non-traditional avenues of
securing these funds such as Viability Gap Funding (where
the government makes a seed funding of up to about 20%of the project cost and invites a private entity to meet theremaining requirement, and in return allows the entity todevelop, operate and earn revenue from the project fora fixed number of year); Value Captured Finance (where
cities earn revenue through special taxes imposed in thevicinity of key infrastructural projects whose land value has
increased because of the projects); Municipal bonds, etc. A
city’s financial status, and its financial acumen in generatingthese financial resources, will go a long way in determining
its integrated water management trajectory. Box 6 presents
the innovative Hybrid Annuity Model used in India to fundmajor sewage infrastructure projects.

Since 2016, India’s National Mission for Clean Ganga has been using the Hybrid Annuity
Model (HAM) for encouraging the private sector to invest in sewage infrastructure
projects. HAM is a combination of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) annuity andEngineering-Procurement-Contracts (EPC). A private entity undertakes design,
construction, commissioning, operations & maintenance of the used water treatment
plant for a period of fifteen years from the date of commissioning of the project. The
project assets are transferred back to the city at the end of the concession term.
Only 40% of the capital cost is paid to the developers upon completion of construction,
while the remaining 60% of the cost is be paid over the life of the project as annuities,
along with operations & maintenance expenses. Further, the interest rate risk andinflation risk are covered by the government through additional payment of intereston the reducing balance of 60% capital cost at the rate of 3% over State Bank of India’s
Marginal Cost of funds-based Lending Rate. In other words, the private partner bears
the construction and maintenance risk, while the government bears all the revenue andinflation risk.
A key highlight of the HAM is that the annuity and O&M payments are linked tothe performance of the treatment plants. This ensures that the assets created are
well-maintained for the intended design span.

3.8 Encourage city partnerships andnetworks
The SDG 17 recognises that the SDGs can only be realisedwith strong global partnerships and cooperation. Strong
national and local partnerships are therefore useful
avenues to realise the overall vision of achieving water
security through capacity building, peer-to-peer learning
between cities as well as forge partnerships and long-term
relationships.

changing the ‘business as usual’, they can learn valuablelessons from each other’s experiences—both good and bad.
Given their convening power and authority, federal/central
governments may need to take the lead in creating suchnetworks and partnerships. However, their role should be
limited to facilitation, allowing the network to draw up its
own agenda. This will ensure autonomy of the network
whilst still anchored in the national machinery. Box 7
presents an example of a recently established network ofriver cities in India.

The role of partnerships and networks becomes evenmore significant for scaling up the idea of integrated water
management.
This is because as cities take actions towards
138   World Bank (2017). IFC Helps Structure India’s First Hybrid-Annuity PPP For Sewage Treatment, Boosts National Clean Ganga Mission. Accessed 08 May
2023 from website https://pressroom.ifc.org/all/pages/PressDetail.aspx?ID=18262

20 Urban 20 2023 White Paper

Box 7: India’s River Cities
Alliance39

In 2021, India’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Jalshakti setup the River Alliance as a platform for river cities to discuss and exchange information
on aspects that are vital for sustainable management of urban rivers. The Alliance is acity-led movement for promulgating river-sensitive planning and development. Hence,
the agenda and operations for RCA is determined by the member cities. However,to allow member cities enough time to set up their own structure for managing theAlliance, the National Institute of Urban Affairs, is serving as the Secretariat for a periodof 3 years. Currently 119 Indian cities are part of the River Cities Alliance. Each city isrepresented by the administrative head—the Municipal Commissioner or Executive
Officer.
The main activities of the Alliance include organising an annual summit for the Alliancemembers to showcase the work done in their cities and have discussions with peers
for new and emerging ideas. Additionally, the Secretariat organises periodic training
programmes (once every two months) on various niche topics for different categories
of officials from the member cities. Member cities are also encouraged to have
independent bilateral visits to learn from each other.
The River Cities Alliance was acknowledged as a unique and forward looking initiative atthe 2023 UN Water Conference and by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs on
its website.40

1239   NIUA and NMCG (2021). River Cities Alliance. https://niua.in/rca/
40  https://sdgs.un.org/partnerships/river-cities-alliance-partnership-developing-international-river-sensitive-cities

Ensuring Water Security 21

04/
ConclusionAddressing and enhancing urban water security isa global aspiration. Hence, the actions that cities
take today will play a deciding role in defining thecontours of the global response to this aspiration. In viewof burgeoning development pressures in cities, integrated
water management is our best option to pursue holistic
water security. Going forward, actions for the urban watersector must be anchored in systems thinking and adopt
a transdisciplinary approach to planning, design andimplementation. The paper has proposed an eight-point
agenda for enhancing integrated water management incities as follows:
1. Re-imagine the role of water managers to address
current and emerging needs and contexts.
2. Leverage urban planning instruments to create along-term recourse for sustained actions for integrated
urban water management.
3. Strengthen the city data ecosystem to create a soundpremise for evidence-based decision making.
4. Integrate nature-based solutions to complement
traditional infrastructure for the overall management of
the urban water sector.
5. Transition from mono-functional to multi-functional
infrastructure to reap multiple benefits from the sameinvestment.
6. Invest in social and human capital as a means toencourage citizens to take some onus of action required
for managing the urban water sector.
7. Explore non-traditional financing sources to help
expand the ambition for integrated water resources
implementation.
8. Encourage city partnerships and networks to facilitate
the exchange of practical knowledge and ideas forproliferating integrated water management.
Adopting and actioning these agenda items will requirea paradigm shift in thinking and a marked departurefrom ‘business as usual’. It must start with building
capacities of elected representatives, which is particularly
important for two reasons. First, they comprise part ofthe ‘decision-making’ body who have the mandate andthe authority to translate aspirations into reality. Second,
because of their inherent association with the general141   https://g20waterplatform.org.sa/en/Pages/default.aspx

22 Urban 20 2023 White Paper

citizens, integrated water management can truly become apeople’s movement.
It is vital to understand, and appreciate, that water needs
and requirements of cities are different, which would bereflected in their integrated water management models.
These models will, and should, differ from place to place.
Hence, each city will need to discover its own model basedon the local context and aspirations.
The onus of action is, of course, on individual members of
the G20 community to devise context-specific strategies
and plans to implement the eight-point agenda. However,as a collective body, there is much that the G20 can do tofacilitate the uptake of this agenda.
First, would be to set up a Urban Water Security Task
Force under the G20 mechanism comprising apex urban
water agencies from cities of the member countries. The
primary objective of the Task Force would be to proposea bi-annual/annual action plan based on the eight-point
agenda for member cities to follow. For example, the priority
for the first two year could be to propose a generic templatefor strengthening urban water database. The Task Forcecould convene periodically to catalyse partnerships andcollaboration for improved knowledge management for
decisions and actions around the eight point agenda listed
above.
Second, would be to create a dedicated Urban Water
Security Corner on the G20 Water Platform41 to foregroundthat urgent action is required on the urban water security
front. Currently, the G20 Water Platform has only limited
coverage on “urban” water aspects. The dedicated Urban
Water Security Corner would enable creation and sharing ofan online repository of data, knowledge, success stories andother related information about actions taken by member
cities against the eight-point agenda. Such a repository will
not only help in enhancing awareness on integrated urban
water management initiatives; it will also inspire member
cities to take ambitious and progressive actions as theonline platform would offer them high visibility.
Third, would be to introduce Outstanding Water

Management Awards for cities performing very wellagainst the eight-point agenda using different performanceindicators. The opportunity to receive global recognition
may incentivise cities to push the envelope further.

The G20 has the influencing power to help transcend
the boundaries of conventional thinking and create
water-secure cities that thrive in harmony with nature,promote social equity, harness the power of technology, andengage all stakeholders. The time for action is now. The G20
has been known as a body of world economic leaders thus
far. It is time for G20 leadership to take on the role of global
water stewards.

यथा चित्तं तथा वाचो यथा वाचस्तथा क्रिया ।चित्ते वाचि क्रियायां च साधूनामेकरूपता ॥(As is the mind, so is the speech; as is the speech so is the action.
In all good entities, there is uniformity in mind, speech and action.)

Ensuring Water Security 23

05/
Annexure
SDG 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
Targets

Indicators

6.1

By 2030, achieve universal and equitable access tosafe and affordable drinking water for all

6.1.1

6.2

By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable
sanitation and hygiene for all and end open
defecation, paying special attention to the needs ofwomen and girls and those in vulnerable situations

6.2.1 Proportion of population using (a) safely managed
sanitation services and (b) a hand-washing facility
with soap and water

6.3

By 2030, improve water quality by reducing
pollution, eliminating dumping and minimising
release of hazardous chemicals and materials,
halving the proportion of untreated wastewater andsubstantially increasing recycling and safe reuse
globally

6.3.1 Proportion of domestic and industrial wastewaterflows safely treated

By 2030, substantially increase water-use
efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable
withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address
water scarcity and substantially reduce the numberof people suffering from water scarcity

6.4.1 Change in water-use efficiency over time

By 2030, implement integrated water resourcesmanagement at all levels, including throughtransboundary cooperation as appropriate

6.5.1 Degree of integrated water resources management

6.4

6.5

Proportion of population using safely managed
drinking water services

6.3.2 Proportion of bodies of water with good ambient
water quality

6.4.2 Level of water stress: freshwater withdrawal as aproportion of available freshwater resources

6.5.2 Proportion of transboundary basin area with anoperational arrangement for water cooperation
6.6

By 2020, protect and restore water-related
ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands,
rivers, aquifers and lakes

6.a

By 2030, expand international cooperation and6.a.1 Amount of water- and sanitation-related
capacity-building support to developing countries
official development assistance that is part of a
in water- and sanitation-related activities
government-coordinated spending planand programmes, including water harvesting,desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment,
recycling and reuse technologies

6.bSupport and strengthen the participation of local
communities in improving water and sanitation
management(Source: https://sdgs.un.org/goals)
24 Urban 20 2023 White Paper

6.6.1 Change in the extent of water-related ecosystems
over time

6.b.1 Proportion of local administrative units withestablished and operational policies and proceduresfor participation of local communities in water andsanitation management

Ensuring Water Security 25

26 Urban 20 2023 White Paper