Waste Water Management in Cities: Notes from Bengaluru and Nelamangala

Water pollution has emerged as an area of concern in rapidly growing cities in India. With continued large investments in centralised waste water treatment systems, and a growing number of innovations in the decentralised treatment approaches, stormwater drainage networks are often overlooked as a potential locus of intervention. These networks, however, have the potential for focused intervention to improve surface and groundwater quality. This article dwells on a lab-tested, low-cost, and novel waste water management system called strategic in-stream treatment systems, which can be scaled up to existing and emerging cities in India.