‘Home Remedy’ : Increasing Waste Water Reuse in Thane City’s Housing Societies

Abstract

India is currently battling the worst water crisis it has ever faced. The devastating water troubles the country is mired in have come about as a result of multiple activities exerting pressure on the nation’s limited water resources. One of these pressures come from the disproportionate water consumption by large residential buildings and apartment complexes, significantly higher than the water usage of lower-income households.

In 2004, a regulation was instituted by the then Ministry of Environment and Forests to make the installation of SSTPs mandatory for all new large residential, commercial and institutional buildings. While many ULBs across the country, including the TMC, adopted this regulation in their respective preferred forms, it has not translated into the realisation of a high level of benefits because of the lack of intensification of governance arrangements to cater to the same. While studying the ground realities connected to this regulation, the Dissertation reaches the inference that there is a need to augment governance capabilities to ensure success of this regulation, while also claiming the need for a subsidy program to offset the considerable financial burden of running SSTPs on homeowners.