23/09/2026
At the 𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, under the theme Climate Resilient Water Management, WaterAid India joined an important conversation on transforming greywater into an opportunity for water security, climate resilience and productive reuse.
During “𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: What Global Experience Means for Rural India,” Anand Shekhar, CEO, WaterAid India, took the audience “around the world in 6 minutes,” bringing experiences from India, Nepal, Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Australia, Israel and Germany.
From soak and magic pits and kitchen-garden reuse to constructed wetlands, nature-based solutions and engineered treatment systems, global experience showed one key lesson: there is no single solution to greywater management. Solutions must be context-appropriate, affordable, locally manageable and designed for safe reuse.
And the opportunity in India is enormous.
Rural India generates an estimated 30.6 billion litres of greywater every day. At this scale, greywater is no longer simply a sanitation or disposal issue. Safely managed, it can support groundwater recharge, agriculture, livelihoods and climate resilience.
Moderated by Ms Aishvarya Singh, JS & MD, SBM(G), DDWS – Government of India, the session brought together policy and implementation perspectives.
Dr. Kalimuthu Arumugam Pillai, Executive Director – WASH Institute, highlighted household and community solutions, capacity building, Village Action Plans and appropriate treatment technologies.
Himanshu Sharma, State Mission Director, SBM(G), Bihar, highlighted convergence, community participation, women’s collectives and long-term O&M.
Rohit Kakkar, Deputy Advisor, MoHUA, highlighted wastewater challenges in peri-urban areas and census towns, alongside opportunities for decentralised treatment and productive reuse.
The session was also attended by Shri Ashok Meena, Secretary, DDWS, GoI, and WASH leaders including Sujoy Majumdar, UNICEF; Vinod Mishra, UNOPS; and Vikas Kataria, Director, WaterAid India.
The opportunity now is to move from intent to scale.
From disposal to reuse.
From assets to functioning systems.
From pilots to scale.
From short-term project financing to lifecycle investment.
This requires collaboration between government, donors, CSR, climate-finance partners, technology providers, civil society and communities with investment in infrastructure, O&M, monitoring, capacity building, behaviour change and safe water-quality outcomes.
India has the scale, institutional platforms and experience to make this transition.
The question is no longer whether greywater can be managed, but whether we can collectively unlock its potential.
Let us turn every litre safely recovered and reused into an opportunity for a more water-secure, climate-resilient India.
