Parliament Question: Wastewater Reuse and Recycling under AMRUT

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 90 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29 JANUARY, 2026 WASTEWATER REUSE AND RECYCLING UNDER AMRUT NO. 90. SHRI KRISHNA PRASAD TENNETI: Will the Minister of HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) the details of the steps taken by the Government to promote wastewater reuse and recycling under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) during the last five years, especially in Andhra Pradesh; (b) the details of the current wastewater treatment capacity in the country along with the quantum of treated water reused/reclaimed, year and State-wise; (c) the details of the number and capacity of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), their actual utilisation levels and the gap between installed and operational capacity, State-wise; (d) the details of the issues faced in achieving full utilisation of STPs including infrastructure constraints, energy costs, lack of reuse infrastructure, financial sustainability and operational challenges; and (e) the details of the measures taken by the Government to enhance reuse of treated wastewater for agriculture, industry and urban non- potable purposes along with the targets fixed and the present status of the same across the country, State-wise, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, district-wise? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS (SHRI TOKHAN SAHU) (a) to (e): Water and sanitation is State subject. Government of India supplements the efforts of the States through schematic interventions/ advisories. It provides financial and technical support to the States through various Mission/ Schemes such as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and AMRUT 2.0. …2/--2- Under AMRUT, a total of 889 sewerage and septage management projects amounting to ₹34,467 crore have been grounded. Through these projects, about 6,299 Million Litres per Day (MLD) of sewage treatment capacity has been approved, out of which 1,437 MLD capacity has been developed for recycle and reuse of treated waste water. AMRUT 2.0 has been launched on 1st October, 2021 in all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)/ cities including ULBs in Andhra Pradesh, enabling the cities to become 'self-reliant' and 'water secure'. Providing universal coverage of sewerage and septage management in 500 AMRUT cities is one of the major focus areas of AMRUT 2.0. AMRUT 2.0 has been envisaged to promote circular economy of water through development of city water balance plan for each city focusing on recycle/ reuse of treated sewage, rejuvenation of water bodies and water conservation, etc. Under Sewerage component of the AMRUT 2.0 for 500 AMRUT cities, tertiary treatment with end-to-end reuse plan (preferably in Public Private Partnership mode); provision/ augmentation and rehabilitation of sewerage systems with end-to-end treatment and reuse; tapping of used water for recycling; identifying the bulk users of recycled used water and facilitating sale of used water to potential users (e.g. industrial clusters such as textile/ leather/ paper/ power plants/ railways, etc.) are admissible components. Under AMRUT 2.0, 583 sewerage/septage projects worth ₹66117.69 crore have been approved by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) so far. Approved projects cover 6,649 MLD sewage treatment capacity (new/augmentation) of which 1,931 MLD sewage treatment capacity is for recycle/reuse. As per the information updated by States in City Water Balance Plans (CWBP) as in 2021, State/UT-wise details of no. of STPs, their design & operational capacities and treated water reused/reclaimed is given in Annexure -I. STPs are designed considering prospective population of next 15 years, therefore, in initial period the operation capacity remains lesser than the designed capacity. The key issues in achieving full utilisation of STPs includes insufficient sewerage network infrastructure and house service connections. Operational efficiency of STPs is also influenced by technical capacity, High energy cost, availability of skilled manpower, maintenance practices, etc. Further, reuse of treated wastewater depends on availability of downstream reuse infrastructure such as conveyance pipelines and assured offtake from bulk users, etc. …3/--3- MoHUA has launched "Jal Hi AMRIT" initiative under AMRUT 2.0 reforms, which aims to incentivize States and Union Territories (UTs) to efficiently manage sewage treatment plants for recyclable treated water meeting environmental standards on sustained basis. The focus of this initiative is building capacity and incentivizing qualitative improvements in the treated discharge effluent. To institutionalize circularity, Water Resource Recovery Cells (WRRCs) have been established in 25 States/ Union Territories under this initiative to plan, monitor, and scale resource recovery interventions. The State Government of Andhra Pradesh has informed that 129 numbers of STPs are established with installed capacity of 703.65 MLD in the urban areas. Treated water reused quantity is 123.02 MLD. Treated used water is used for industrial purpose in ULBs like Visakhapatnam, Tirupathi and Tadipatri. In 11 ULBs it is used for horticulture, parks, divider plantations etc. In all other ULBs treated wastewater is let in agriculture fields for use by farmers. District-wise details of quantity of reuse of treated water is given in Annexure-II. Andhra Pradesh’s Treat Water Reuse Policy promotes circular economy in used water sector. It mandates use of treated used water in industries, big commercial users, Railways, bulk consumers situated within 10 km radius of ULB, landscaping, rejuvenation of ponds/ lakes, etc. Usage for agriculture, horticulture and irrigation is optional. Treated used water is offered free of cost. *****ANNEXURE-I REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) to (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.90 REGARDING “WASTEWATER REUSE AND RECYCLING UNDER AMRUT”, DUE FOR ANSWER IN THE LOK SABHA ON 29.01.2026. State-wise STP designed capacity and reuse of used water (as per information submitted in city water balance plan by the States/ UTs on AMRUT 2.0 portal as in 2021) (Capacity in MLD) Quantity of No. of STP Designed STP Operational treated State STPs Capacity Capacity water Reuse ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS 38 0.75 0.55 0.55 ANDHRA PRADESH* 129 703.65 502.35 123.02 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 1 3.00 0.00 0.00 ASSAM 1 2.00 2.00 2.00 BIHAR 19 577.31 231.00 4.50 CHANDIGARH 6 248.18 248.18 131.80 CHHATTISGARH 35 354.51 293.01 190.14 DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI AND DAMAN & DIU 2 17.21 6.61 4.23 DELHI 40 3033.48 2758.19 421.59 GOA 8 97.40 29.67 0.16 GUJARAT 130 5266.30 3693.23 1108.79 HARYANA 156 2068.15 1486.33 278.07 HIMACHAL PRADESH 74 185.41 122.23 5.62 JAMMU AND KASHMIR 16 129.19 73.64 0.00 JHARKHAND 12 82.00 50.00 43.60 KARNATAKA 192 2878.04 2390.35 1053.31 KERALA 18 262.28 185.69 7.61 LADAKH 1 3.00 3.00 0.00 LAKSHADWEEP 0 0.00 0.00 0.00 MADHYA PRADESH 78 1315.26 829.61 202.15 MAHARASHTRA 203 8005.60 6992.53 1211.11 MANIPUR 1 27.00 21.00 0.00 MEGHALAYA 1 0.12 0.00 0.00 MIZORAM 1 10.00 1.00 0.00 NAGALAND 2 50.86 0.00 0.00 ODISHA 25 329.63 138.73 8.22 PUDUCHERRY 2 51.00 44.19 32.45 PUNJAB 132 2211.05 1909.85 85.47 RAJASTHAN 99 1077.25 891.48 448.32 SIKKIM 3 21.52 19.52 0.00 TAMIL NADU 84 1723.62 932.35 240.22 TELANGANA 37 1131.41 772.33 358.12 TRIPURA 2 18.00 8.40 3.73 UTTAR PRADESH 116 3742.05 2995.05 519.71 UTTARAKHAND 62 425.03 295.56 14.00 WEST BENGAL 28 491.94 376.82 36.00Quantity of No. of STP Designed STP Operational treated State STPs Capacity Capacity water Reuse Total 1,754 36,543.2 28,304.45 6,534.49 *As informed by the State as on 27.01.2026ANNEXURE-II REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) to (e) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.90 REGARDING “WASTEWATER REUSE AND RECYCLING UNDER AMRUT”, DUE FOR ANSWER IN THE LOK SABHA ON 29.01.2026. District-wise details of quantity of reuse of treated water in Andhra Pradesh Installed Quantity of Purpose of reused S.No Name of the ULB Capacity (in treated sewage treated water MLD) utilised (in MLD) Agriculture, Gardening and 1 Visakhapatnam 233 36 Industries 2 Rajamahendravaram 32 0.5 Plantation and Greenery 3 Vijayawada 133.3 34.6 Agriculture 4 Narsaraopet 15.55 2 Gardening 5 Ongole 15 3 Divider plantation 6 Tirupati 55 31.56 Industry & Agriculture 7 Pulivendula 10 3 Parks 8 Kurnool 9.9 0.56 Parks and central medians 9 Yemmiganur 19.8 5 Agriculture 10 Tadipatri 14.25 6.5 Agriculture & Industry Grass cultivation by Sri Satya Sai Central trust 11 Puttaparthi 3.5 0.3 Gokulam and agriculture Total 541.3 123.02