JOINT WORKING PAPER ON WATER AND CLIMATE RESILIENCE

Executive Summary

The objective of the Track II Dialogue on Climate Change and Energy is to create constructive, civil-

society dialogue focused on climate change and clean energy in order to strengthen and enhance the

strategic partnership between India and the U.S. The Dialogue is dedicated to positively impacting how

the two countries interact bilaterally while also demonstrating genuine leadership multi-laterally on

climate change. This year, the importance of water and the enormous impact of climate on the water

sector, has led to the choice of water as a core theme of the dialogue.

The water working group members uniformly agree that water is a critical thematic area, mandating

urgent attention and action. While every aspect of water needs urgent attention, taking a focused and

solutions-oriented approach would help achieve maximum impact. Given that perspective, it is

proposed that building the adaptive capacity and maximizing the mitigation potential in the water

sector be the two pillars. An expanded climate resilience partnership and an expanded US India water

partnership would encompass opportunities for research collaboration, institutional partnership, city

to city interconnectedness, technical/technological exchanges and create new avenues of investment

and jobs.

Key recommendations emerging from the Water working groups discussion are as follows:

• The expanded climate resilience partnership aims to address climate-related challenges like

extreme events (floods, droughts, and related disasters). The three parts to this partnership

are (1) climate-related disaster risk reduction (DRR), with a particular emphasis on flood and

drought risk reduction and management, (2) financing climate-related water interventions,

and (3) cooperation on climate-resilient infrastructure.

• The expanded water partnership on the other hand would facilitate collaborative efforts to

address critical water issues in India and the US, which do not traditionally fall into the climate

box. Key priority areas for engagement include water for agriculture (promotion of solar

irrigation, precision-agriculture, and improvement of irrigation water-use efficiency), access

to safe drinking water and sanitation, maintaining environmental or ecological flows, water

for energy and industry (improving water use efficiency of energy sector, energy efficiency of

water sector, industrial and urban water management, improved functioning of water

utilities).

• The proposed water partnership between US and India would open avenues for greater

Industry level collaboration as well as partnership and collaboration between government

mechanisms at various levels.

• Key opportunities of collaboration centre around state-to-state partnership between a state

in India and the US. Likewise, between research institutes and industries in technology and

science for tech transfer and research collaborations, as well as between private sector

companies on investment and job creation.

1. Expanded Climate Resilience Partnership

1.1 Disaster Risk Reduction: India and US can launch a new PACE-research style program, complemented by a USAID program, focused on disaster risk reduction. This program could assist both countries to upgrade their capacities, systems, standards, regulations, and practices with a provision to exchange knowledge and information on disaster risk reduction on a regular basis. Cooperation on climate-related disaster risk reduction could include:

• Flood forecasting and early warning systems for river floods

• Hydro informatics for urban flood management

• Development of IoT based sensors for flood monitoring

• Research collaboration to specifically target GLOF (Glacier Lake Outburst Floods) and SLOF (Small

Lake Outburst Floods) related studies and capacities.

• Nature-based solutions (restoring degraded watersheds, reconnecting rivers to their floodplains,

and restoring or creating urban wetlands) for hydro-meteorological risk reduction

• Better management of solid waste to prevent flooding, and to reduce pollution of wetlands.

• Near real-time drought impact assessment (Irrigation solutions such as drip irrigation, Irrigation

infrastructure, Irrigation efficiency)

• Climate proofing of critical infrastructure - development of a collaborative tool to analyse the

cascading effects of extreme weather events on critical infrastructures.

New financial solutions can be devised for climate-proofing critical infrastructure and climate risk

insurance for vulnerable populations (e.g., smallholder farmers).

A particular emphasis should be placed on flood and drought risk management.

Flood risk assessment and management: Post-2005, at least 55 or more Indian districts witnessed

extreme flood events year-on-year, impacting 98 million people annually32. America’s exposure to

flood risk is estimated to increase from 14.6 million to 16.2 million properties by 205033. The United

States saw a record 30 named storms in 2020, 12 of which made landfall. These storms caused about

$43 billion in losses, more than any other category of natural disaster.

India and the US can join hands together to work on multiple fronts for combating flood risks. This

would mean developing state-of-the-art flood forecasting and early warning systems using emerging

technologies like the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence, machine learning, and geospatial

mapping. Radar based water level monitoring device developed by Indian start-ups helped India’s

Central Water Commission in monitoring the flood wave during the recent Chamoli flash flood

disaster34. Such innovative technologies for flood management can be promoted and scaled up

through engagement of start-ups, private sector and research organizations.

Researchers from both countries can also work on nature-based solutions like restoring degraded

watersheds, reconnecting rivers to their floodplains, and restoring or creating urban wetlands for

hydro-meteorological disaster risk reduction. Both countries should also strive to build traditional

flood protection infrastructure where warranted, avoid building residential, commercial, and

manufacturing infrastructure in high-risk areas, and make sure any new infrastructure is built to be

flood resilient.

Drought risk management: In India, nearly 68% of Indian districts have been facing droughts and

drought-like situations and a shift in the pattern of extreme climate events such as flood-prone areas

32 https://www.ceew.in/publications/preparing-india-extreme-climate-events

33 https://assets.firststreet.org/uploads/2020/06/first_street_foundation first_national_flood_risk_assessment.pdf

34https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/ntpc-rishi-ganga-power-projects-nearly-washed-

away/article33776257.ece

becoming drought-prone and vice-versa was observed in over 40% of districts35. According to a report

by US Drought Monitor, around 54.9% of US land experiences drought-like conditions36. Parts of the

US Southwest are currently mired in “exceptional drought,” a condition that is expected to occur every

50 years, but which now occurs regularly37. Frequent droughts pose a severe challenge to food and

water security, as well as to urban security and agricultural livelihoods in India and the US. To mitigate

the adverse effects of droughts, near real-time drought impact assessments should be developed.

Governments should also work on improving mechanisms for initiating effective social responses to

drought events (e.g., urban centers can pay upstream farmers to fallow their lands during severe

droughts). Drought contingency plans can be developed through district-level, state-level, and basin-

level engagement. Urban, rural, and industrial leaders must redouble efforts to increase water use

efficiency and thereby lessen water demand. Sufficient water (an overwhelming majority of flows)

must continue to flow in rivers to support robust ecosystem health.

1.2 Climate Finance: Enhancing finance for climate-proofing water resources management,

improving access to water and inclusion of small and medium enterprises (SME) in the water sector is

a nascent area with huge potential. UNFCCC has been promoting NBS to water crises, as well as a more

active role for banks and investors in this sector. Financial institutions have come together to develop

and adopt guidelines under TCFD, presenting a big opportunity for collaboration between the US and

India.

- Enhance funding modalities within existing and new climate funds – MDBs, ICF, GCF,

- Create toolkits, portfolio of advice integrating climate resilience into lending / grants through

improved water governance and management, lowering administrative barriers, and reducing

transaction costs to facilitate coordination

• Private Sector and Financial Institution Partnerships

- Private sector engagement of financial institutions for enhanced climate risk internalization of

water sector investments

- Global platforms such as TCFD could be the vehicles for partnership

- Specific one-to-one partnerships between private sector entities and VCs or debt funds could

also be explored

• Collaborations & Partnerships

− With partner State(s) e.g., California

− Possible collaboration between research institutions - US and India

− CDRI

1.2 Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

The US can announce an enhanced level of participation in the Indian-led Coalition for Disaster

Resilient Infrastructure. The coalition, launched by Prime Minister Modi at the UN Climate Action

Summit 2019, is a partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programs, and MDBs to

promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks,

thereby advancing sustainable development. These issues are also relevant to the U.S. government;

agencies such as the Millennium Challenge Cooperation and the government’s inter-agency

community of practice on adaptation, have been exploring how to promote climate resilience in

35 https://www.ceew.in/publications/preparing-india-extreme-climate-events

36 https://www.drought.gov/data-maps-tools/us-drought-monitor

37 https://www.axios.com/a-forever-drought-takes-shape-in-the-west-d80155a7-2fc3-40c6-a5d6-0aa085e95f9f.html

infrastructure systems. The Global Commission on Adaptation’s Adapt Now report puts forward

several recommendations for action, which the U.S. and India can accelerate through the CDRI.

2. Expanded US India Water Partnership

2.1 Water for Agriculture: Irrigation, role of Renewable Energy (Solar) and increased

industry contribution to technology enhancement

A joint Indo-US water program, supported by key institutions from both sides, would aim to strengthen

research to equip policy makers, regulators, business communities with information and solutions to

address water related problems affecting both countries.

I. Irrigation water use efficiency

Irrigated agriculture accounts for the largest share (almost 80%) of consumptive water use in the US

and India. According to FAO38, India has one of the lowest water use efficiency (WUE) in the world,

while the US falls in the category of countries with moderate WUE. Increasing water demand in other

sectors combined with climate change will harm agricultural productivity in both countries.

Following measures can be taken by both countries to secure water for agriculture:

• To improve canal irrigation efficiency, near real-time assessment of crop water demand based on

weather forecasts and remotely sensed data could be used to plan canal discharge schedules.

• Start-ups and the private sector can collaborate to develop automated irrigation systems and IoT

sensors for canal water level monitoring.

• Mechanisms to provide farm-scale irrigation advisories to smallholder farmers should be

developed further.

• Researchers can work collaboratively to scale up efficient irrigation techniques like deficit

irrigation, drip irrigation, precision agriculture, etc.

• Co-creation of low-cost precision agriculture solutions for small-holder farmers.

• Investment in post-harvest loss-mitigation strategies, including cold-storage and distributed storage infrastructure and management.

• Appropriate saline water management measures should be put in place to address the increasing

salinity problem.

Modalities: As noted below, an MOU was signed in December 2019 between India’s Ministry of Jal

Shakti and the U.S. Geological Survey to promote technical cooperation in water resources

management and water technology. We can leverage this MOU to (1) promote greater use of real-

time earth observation data to improve water use efficiency in agriculture and (2) promote greater

use of efficient irrigation technologies.

II. Solar Powered Irrigation Systems

Solar-powered irrigation systems (SPIS) could give farmers in India and the US greater access to

irrigation systems while enhancing the sustainability quotient and contributing to better aquifer

management. India’s government launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan

Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme in March 2019 to support off-grid solar pump installation in rural

areas.

- Solar power irrigation systems to be attuned to sustainable aquifer management and

continuing to integrate further research-based irrigation mechanisms for sustainability.

38 http://www.fao.org/3/CA1588EN/ca1588en.pdf

- Sustainable aquifer management dictates that long-term water abstraction from aquifers

must not exceed long-term aquifer recharge rates.

Modalities: We should build on work done under the PM-KUSUM scheme in India (see below) and

research similar initiatives that may be underway in the United States.

2.2 Access to safe drinking water and sanitation

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reiterated the importance of handwashing as a measure to

tackle COVID-19. This has brought the inequity in access to safe and sufficient water for sanitation to

the forefront. According to the National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) 76th round, 0.6 billion Indians

use public water sources. Further, almost 50 per cent of rural households and 25 per cent of urban

households in India did not have exclusive access to toilets in their houses. US Water Alliance report

states that more than 2 million Americans live without basic access to safe drinking water and

sanitation39. In times of a contagious pandemic, providing access to safe water and sanitation to all

citizens should be a priority of both governments.

Opportunities for collaboration:

● Co-creation of water security planning toolkits for rural, peri-urban, and urban areas

● Development of mechanisms and infrastructure for granular monitoring of groundwater levels

● Scaling up of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) measures for increasing groundwater reserve

● Development of low-cost portable water quality testing devices

● Design and setting up of community-owned water purification plants in groundwater

contaminated areas

● Training, capacity building, and funding for water quality testing, operation, and maintenance

of water purification and wastewater treatment plants

● Design and construction of community sanitary complexes in rural and urban areas

● Development of an online portal for cities in India hosting micro-level near real-time data on

water demand, water consumption, NRW, water quality, wastewater generation and

treatment, the efficiency of sewage treatment and drinking water treatment plants, rainfall,

quantity and quality of water in urban wetlands and potential for rainwater harvesting among

possible other opportunities.

Modalities: as noted below, there are many government initiatives and investment opportunities

underway in these areas in India. In the United States, we will likely see large-scale investment in

infrastructure, including water and wastewater infrastructure, under the Biden Administration. Any

initiatives we pursue must take account of and dovetail with these numerous initiatives.

2.3 Environmental / Ecological Flows

Maintaining environmental or ecological flows in the rivers to ensure healthy aquatic life, and resilient

aquatic species is becoming increasingly important. The vulnerability index developed by NICRA (GOI)

lists the impact of reduced precipitation and increase in temperatures, along with infrastructure

development leading to massive reduction in ecological flows. River restoration based on Wild and

Scenic ACT of US has led to positive results across rivers of US.

• Co-creation of methodology for environmental flow assessments and adaptive management.

• Policy instruments for monitoring and implementation of environment flows.

39http://uswateralliance.org/sites/uswateralliance.org/files/publications/Closing%20the%20Water%20Access%20Gap%20i

n%20the%20United%20States_DIGITAL.pdf

• Modelling transport of pollutants in a river stretch and development of real time water quality

alarm system for water managers and other stakeholders.

• Tools for devising water allocation strategies accounting for climate change scenarios, changes

in land use, sectoral water demand (domestic, irrigation, and industrial), and environmental

flow requirements.

• Nature-based solutions for restoring degraded floodplains, watersheds and wetlands to

contribute towards environmental flows.

Modalities: As noted below, the India-US Water MOU includes technical cooperation on river basin

management. Ensuring sustainable environmental flows and sustainable groundwater management

would fall under this part of the MOU. Work in this area should take account of progress being made

in India as part of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), as well as progress being made in

California under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Our efforts should strive to

build on sustainable surface water and groundwater management efforts under these or similar

initiatives.

2.3 Water for Energy & Industry

Water related extreme events due to climate change pose operational, regulatory and reputational

risks to businesses and power generators. With increasing climate risks in both India and the US, it is

imperative for governments and the private sector to work towards achieving climate resilience.

The following interventions can be taken by both countries to mitigate climate change impacts on the

energy sector, industries, and water utilities:

a. Energy sector

− Research on advanced cooling technologies for thermal power plants

− Promoting use of recycled water from WWTP in power plants

− Expand solar photovoltaic- and wind-based power generation

b. Industries

− Developing real time water auditing tools using data mining techniques and low-cost

instruments for continuous monitoring of flow and water quality in industries.

− Technology transfer and research on innovative wastewater and sludge treatment

technologies and sludge-to-energy production processes

− Designing pathways for adopting circular water management by water intensive industries

− Mainstreaming corporate water stewardship and corporate participation in collective action

efforts in at-risk watersheds

− Ensuring water use sustainability and water quality within the supply chain, with a specific

focus on sectors like textiles, paper and pulp, food processing etc.

c. Water and Wastewater Utilities

− Innovative measures for improving energy efficiency of water and wastewater treatment

infrastructure

− Enabling the digital transformation of water and wastewater utilities using IoT and AI

technology and smart water metering systems.

− Reduction of non-revenue water such as leakage, metering errors and water theft

− Developing pathways for circular management of water

Modalities: There are many industry and energy sector initiatives underway to improve water use efficiency, promote circular economy concepts, etc. Organizations such as CII, WBCSD, US DOE, WRI, WWF, Pacific Institute, and CDP have led or been involved in such efforts. Any effort we pursue should dovetail with and/or complement what these organizations are doing.

Acronyms PM KUSUM- Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan PMKSY - Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai

Yojana

TCFD – The Task Force on Climate Related Financial Disclosures GLOF – Glacial Lake Outburst Flood

SLOF – Small Lake Outburst Flood

SPIS - Solar-powered irrigation systems NSSO – National Sample Survey Office SME – Small and Medium Enterprises

CDRI – Coalition for Disaster Resilience Infrastructure WUE – Water Use Efficiency

NICRA – National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture NRW – Non-revenue water

Annexure 1 Indian government initiatives in water sector

S.N. Initiative Description Thematic Area

1 Jal Jeevan Mission (Rural)

- To provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections by 2024 to all households in rural India

Access to water in rural areas

2 Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban)

- Provision of universal coverage of water supply to all urban households through functional taps in 4,378 statutory towns.

- Rejuvenation of water bodies

- Promote circular economy of water

- Technology Sub-Mission for water is proposed to leverage latest global technologies in the field of water

Access to water in urban areas

Wastewater management

3 Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban

- Urban water supply

- Sewerage and septage management

Access to water

Transformation (AMRUT) Mission

- Storm water drainage to reduce flooding

Wastewater

management

4 Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) II

- Wastewater treatment, including fecal sludge management in all ULBs with less than 1 lakh population

- Solid Waste Management

- Sustainable sanitation

Wastewater and solid waste management

Access to sanitation

5 Atal Bhujal Yojana

- Sustainable ground water management in identified water stressed areas in seven states of the country

Groundwater management

6 Jal Shakti Abhiyan

- Time-bound, mission-mode water conservation campaign including interventions on rainwater harvesting, water reuse and recharge structures, watershed development, renovation of traditional water bodies and intensive afforestation

Groundwater management

7 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM)

- Installation of 17.5 lakh solar powered agricultural pumps for irrigation

- Setting up of 10,000 MW of decentralized ground mounted grid connected renewable power plants

- Solarisation of 10 lakh grid-connected agriculture pumps

Solar powered irrigation

8 Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)

- Expand cultivable area under assured irrigation

- Improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water

- Enhance the adoption of precision-irrigation and other water saving technologies

- Enhance recharge of aquifers

Irrigation management

- Sustainable water conservation practices by exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal waste water for peri-urban agriculture

- Attract greater private investment in precision irrigation system

9 National Mission for Clean Ganga

- Measures for prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution in river Ganga and to ensure continuous adequate flow of water so as to rejuvenate the river Ganga

Environmental Flows

10 Flood Forecasting

- Modernization and expansion of flood forecasting network

Flood management

11 Flood Management and Border Areas Programme

- Critical flood control and anti-erosion works in Ganga, Brahmaputra basin states and coastal areas

Flood management

12 National Hydrology Project

- Improve quality and accessibility of water resources information

- Decision support system for floods

- River basin level resource assessment and planning

- Capacity building of water professionals in India

Flood and drought management

13 National Water Mission

- Comprehensive water data base in public domain and assessment of impact of climate change on water resource

- Promotion of citizen and state action for water conservation, augmentation and preservation

- Focused attention to vulnerable areas including over-exploited areas

- Increasing water use efficiency by 20%

- Promotion of basin level integrated water resources management

14 Atal Innovation Mission

- Promotion of culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country

- To develop new programmes and policies for fostering innovation in different sectors of the economy

- Provide platform and collaboration opportunities for different stakeholders, create awareness and create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the country

15 Start-up India - Government of India’s flagship initiative intended to build a strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and Startups in the country that will drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities

12

Annexure 2 Investment opportunities in India

According to India Investment Grid (as of 11th February 2021), in the water and sanitation sector,

there are in total 1975 project opportunities worth USD 296.44 bn. Also, it is key to note that the

water and sanitation sector is second in the list of top-performing sectors in India.

Sub-sector wise breakup of projects is mentioned below:

• 425 project opportunities worth USD 10.1 bn are listed under sewage collection, treatment,

and disposal

• 535 project opportunities worth USD 106.81 bn are listed under water treatment plants

• 129 project opportunities worth USD 2.28 bn are listed under solid waste management

• 126 project opportunities worth USD 2.46 bn are listed under stormwater drainage system

• 759 project opportunities worth USD 174.79 bn are listed under Irrigation

The major mode of implementation of these projects is EPC and PPP. Since Jal Jeevan Mission (Urban)

and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) II were launched recently, more projects related to the above-

mentioned sub-sectors will be added to this platform.

Annexure 3 India US ongoing and potential collaborations

India-US Water MOU India and the US have a long-standing relationship on water and have recently signed an MOU. A

Memorandum of Understanding was signed in December 2019 between India’s Ministry of Jal Shakti

and the U.S. Geological Survey to promote technical cooperation in water resources management and

water technology. Both sides will be cooperating in the area of management of river basins, flood

management and forecasting, water management, water quality, waste-water recycling and capacity

building in testing and instrumentation. The cooperation will span across Government agencies,

universities, research centres, institutions, private sector companies etc.

Relevant components of the MOU: a. River Basin Management/Integrated Water Resources Management.

b. Collaboration in the field of use of modern technology and scientific knowledge for efficient use of

water and developing appropriate decision support system.

c. Flood management and forecasting.

d. Promoting water management, water quality issues and waste water recycling and re-use through

innovative concession arrangements.

e. Capacity building including laboratory testing and instrumentation.

f. Any other mutually agreed areas as decided by Parties.

Other ongoing and potential collaborations between US and India are listed below in the table.

13

SN Thematic Area

Ongoing collaboration Potential Collaborations

1 Flood

management

Google is working in

collaboration with the Central

Water Commission to improve

flood forecasting.

Ministry of Jal Sakthi and US

Geological Survey

IN - National Hydrology Project

US - NASA, NOAA

2 Drought

management

US - NASA, NOAA, US states, US basin authorities

3 Disaster Risk

Reduction

Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure

US - NOAA, NASA

4 Irrigation water

use efficiency

ICAR and University of Nebraska IN - PMKSY Scheme

US – US states, private sector, public and private earth observation services to measure biomass production, evapotranspiration (ET)

5 Solar Powered

Irrigation Systems

IN - PM-KUSUM Scheme

International Solar Alliance

6 Water and

Sanitation

US – USAID Partnership for water, sanitation and hygiene

IN - Jal Jeevan Mission

IN - Swachh Bharat Mission II

14

8 Water for Energy

& Industry

IN - CII Water Stewardship

IN - Industry action on water quality

(textile sector)

IN - Update of India Water Tool

US - Replication of PACE model

US - private sector initiatives (e.g., as part of the WRI-Aqueduct Alliance)

9 Climate finance

for water

Global Climate Fund funded

irrigation project in Odisha

2- POCRA – World Bank funded project in Maharashtra

US - TCFD Indian FI to join TCFD, Adopt Water related guidelines and risk internalisation, FI to FI collaboration

Authors: Nambi Appadurai, Seema Arora, Manish Bapna, Christina Chan, Charles Iceland, Mridula

Ramesh, Ravi Singh, Surabhi Singh, and Vidya Soundarajan (lead); with input from fellow working group

members: Radhika Fox, Andrew Light, and William Reilly