India, home to nearly 18% of the world’s population, has only about 4% of its freshwater resources. Faced with intense urbanisation, climate change, and rising demand, water scarcity is no longer a future worry it’s a pressing reality. Only about 28% of urban wastewater in India is treated; the rest flows untreated into rivers, lakes, and soil. Proper wastewater management offers multiple benefits: replenishing stressed freshwater sources, reducing pollution, cutting waterborne health disease burden, and enabling reuse in agriculture, industry, or urban landscaping.

The legal and policy framework exists—Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, National Water Policy, Namami Gange, AMRUT, etc.—but implementation lags. Advanced treatment technologies (Membrane Bioreactors, Sequential Batch Reactors, decentralised plants) and nature-based solutions offer promise, but high cost, institutional capacity, and public awareness are hurdles. To move forward, India needs uniform wastewater reuse policies, sustainable finance, rigorous monitoring, and cultural shift so treated wastewater is seen as resource, not waste.