Shri Nitin Gadkari,
Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Road Transport & Highways and Shipping
The Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Acharya Devvrat said that water - a source of life and a gift of nature to the mankind needs to be conserved and saved at all costs in all possible ways with collective efforts by one and all at all levels in an integrated and sustainable manner.
Shri Acharya Devvrat was delivering inaugural address at the first International Conference being organized under the aegis of National Hydrology Project, Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation by Bhakra Beas Management Board ( BBMB) at Indian School of Business (ISB), Mohali on the theme ‘Sustainable Water Management’. He also stressed for adopting natural farming making judicious and proper use of every drop of water for more crops increasing the fertility of land with friendly earth worms for recharging of the ground water. He also inaugurated an exhibition on the occasion where 20 companies have put up their stalls to show case their activities in the area of sustainable water resources management. A CD of documentary entitled ‘Bhakra Beas Nation’s Pride’ on BBMB was also released on the occasion.
Shri U.P. Singh, Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation said that the aim of the Conference is to foster the participation of and dialogue between various stakeholders, including governments, the scientific and academic communities, so as to promote sustainable policies for water management, to create awareness of water-related problems, motivate commitment at the highest level for their solution and thus promote better management of water resources at local, regional, national and international levels.
Shri S. Masood Husain, Chairman, Central Water Commission (CWC) gave a presentation on ‘Water Resources Management Initiatives in India’ , Shri D.K Sharma, Chairman, BBMB gave presentation on ‘Bhakra Dam- A Modern Temple for Sustainable in India’ while Dr. Kees Bons, Netherlands gave a presentation on ‘Water Resources Planning and Management- An International Experience’ in the plenary session. As many as 15 technical sessions are being held on various topics on the theme.
A number of Experts & Delegates from reputed organisations from both within India and from other countries like Australia, United Kingdom, USA, Spain, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Canada, Germany, Sri Lanka etc. are taking part in the event to deliver their experience and expertise in the use of state of art technology to the stakeholders for sustainable development of water resources. More than 400 delegates have been registered for the two-day conference.
Technology and Financial Innovation to drive the Ganga Cleaning Mission
A range of innovative technology
and financial innovations will drive the Ganga cleaning program as was deliberated during the threeday India Water Impact Summit, that concluded on Friday in New Delhi. It was organised by NMCG (National Mission for Clean Ganga) in collaboration with cGanga and saw participations from experts in various fields from 16 countries. Afforestation, biodiversity, urban river management, data harmonisation, development of water bodies, water valuation and market development, financing in water sector and innovation in sewage and sewerage management were the key topics discussed over three days during the summit.
The three-day summit was inaugurated by Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Road Transport & Highways and Shipping, in the presence of Shri Hardeep Puri, Union Urban Development Minister and Dr. Satyapal Singh, Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. Hon. Ms Cecilia Dapaah, Minister of Water Resources, Ghana, Shri U.P. Singh, Secretary, MoWR, RD & GR, Shri Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, DG, NMCG, Steven Schonberger, Director of World Bank , Maya Kadosh, Deputy Chief of Mission, Israel, Jasper Wieck, Deputy Chief of Mission, Germany, Jozef Drofenik , Ambassador of Slovenia and Dr Vinod Tare, Head cGanga, were among other dignitaries present on the occasion. During the inaugural session of the summit Shri Nitin Gadkari announced the successful tapping of the SisamauNala of Kanpur, which discharged 140 million litres per day (MLD) of polluted water into the Ganga. The Minister expressed his satisfaction with the work of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) on the occasion.
Mr. Dapaah, Minister of Water Resources, Ghana also committed to take across Africa global innovations that India successfully implements in the Namami Gange programme. During the valedictory session, Shri UP Singh, Secretary, MoWR, RD & GR expressed his satisfaction on the content of the dialogue. He emphasized on the creation of the working groups as one of the major takeaways from the summit. This will help in converting technology to working models.
Shri Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, DG, NMCG said, ‘The state wise session was a unique deliberation in this version of IWIS. The ministers from the states and senior bureaucrats discussed the various challenges that they face at the ground level implementation of the program. The suggestions from the experts were: engaging state/urban local bodies in policy planning, incorporating local/traditional knowledge in implementation, encouraging zero liquid discharge, decentralization and community driven treatment of sewage & effluents. A working group would also take up development of a model Urban River Management Plan which would be looking comprehensively at the interrelation of river and city and connecting people with the city. Denmark offered their support in this matter.
The technology and innovation deliberations attracted 16 leading companies from 8 nations in a very exciting and a participative workshop. Domains and areas ranged from artificial intelligence, Internet of things, machine learning to latest advancements in waste water recycling, reuse and material recovery, waste-to-energy, satellite imagery with very high resolution, sustainable agricultural practices using soil-less membrane farming, run of the river hydropower units and overall areas of technologies supporting circular economy were presented. The technologies are novel and noble with lower land and energy foot-print, robust but simple electromechanical systems, optimal operations and maintenance costs with low carbon footprint. NMCG has streamlined the introduction and acceleration of technology deployment through an Environment Technology Verification (ETV) process that allows companies to showcase the success and efficacy of their solutions through a pilot demonstration project. The Government is inviting technology solution providers to apply for the ETV programme in the areas of decentralized waste water and industrial effluent treatment, data and information and ancillary services such as solid waste management, sustainable agriculture and hydropower.
The Summit introduced the Ganga Finance Forum, which brought together a number of national and international financial sector experts highlighted the gaps but equally provided a plethora of innovative financial instruments to support the Ganga Rejuvenation programme. These include issuing of masala bonds in international markets to tap into long-term debt financing through capital markets, using specialist guarantee and credit enhancement instruments, specialist foreign exchange hedging products for those using external commercial borrowing structures. The group unilaterally agreed to create blended finance
products such as social impact bonds. An interesting solution to use blockchain and tokens to raise capital has also been suggested by select companies specialising in the fintech sector.
Data and Information asymmetry has been long identified as the crucial missing link. The Summit enabled NMCG to take a leap forward in initiating a number of initiatives in data harmonization that will develop platforms and approaches to increase interoperability of data being generated by a network of agencies working in the water sector. NMCG invited big data and analytics companies and entrepreneurs to partner with it to develop next generation data solutions that will help policy makers and investors in equal measure with irrefutable and accurate data.
The Summit yet again highlighted the need to value water. It prompted subject matter experts to think of the development of local area water markets so that true economic value of water can be established that will lead to better pricing strategies. The India Water Impact Summit is an annual event to provide a platform to start a discourse towards understanding water as a natural resource. The efforts may take various forms: data collection, hydrology, e-flows, agriculture, waste water and more. cGanga:
The Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies is a thinktank and Centre of Excellence to the National Mission for Clean Ganga. In 2015 a consortium of seven Indian Institutes of Technology (Kanpur, Delhi, Madras, Bombay, Kharagpur, Guwahati and Roorkee) created the Ganga River Basin Management Plan. The objective of the plan was to take comprehensive measures for the restoration of the wholesomeness of the Ganga ecosystem and improvement of its ecological health, with due regard to the issue of competing water uses in the river basin. India Water Impact Summit-2018 to be held from 5th December Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri
Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate India Water Impact Summit 2018, being jointly organized by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (cGanga) from 5-7 December 2018 in New Delhi.
The India Water Impact Summit is an annual event where stakeholders get together to discuss, debate and develop model solutions for some of the biggest water related problems in the country. The discussions this year will be on rejuvenation of the Ganga River Basin. There will be multi-country dialogue on the subject, with showcasing of technological innovations, research, policy frameworks and funding models from India and abroad. A number of Indian Central Government Ministries as well as all key decision makers responsible for delivering the rejuvenation of the Ganga will also be present at the Summit.
The efforts may take various forms including (but not limited to): data collection (sensors, LIDAR, modelling etc), hydrology, e-flows, agriculture, waste water and more. The Summit will focus on three key aspects:
Spotlight on 5 states: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Delhi and Bihar. The objective is to showcase the efforts and works going on within the respective states.
Ganga Financing Forum: The 2018 Summit also introduces the inaugural Ganga Financing Forum that will bring a number of institutions to a common knowledge, information and partnership platform. The Hybrid Annuity Model has redefined the economic landscape of water and waste-water treatment in India. All tenders have been successfully bid out and financial closures being achieved. Additionally, the Government is also now encouraging development of smaller decentralised waste water treatment projects. The Financing Forum will bring together financial institutions and investors interested in Namami Gange programmes. Technology and Innovation: Implementation of the pilot/ demonstration programme known as the Environment Technology Verification (ETV) process. This will provide an opportunity to technology and innovation companies from around the world to showcase their solutions for addressing the problems prevalent in the river basin.
Nearly 200 domestic and international participants from nearly 15 countries and more than 50 Central, State and Municipal Government representatives are likely to participate in the summit. There will be sessions on Afforestation and Biodiversity, Urban River/Water Management Plans, Creating a Global Ecosystem for financing the Ganga Rejuvenation Programme and tapping into global capital markets for long term project finance.