One of the most pressing challenges for urban centres in developing countries is access to safe water, sanitation and solid waste infrastructure. Also, most global water supply and sanitation initiatives currently focus on the shortage of “taps and toilets” and how to finance more of them, not incorporating integrated wastewater treatment issues. (UNEP, 2004).

The management of onsite sanitation remains a neglected component of urban sanitation and wastewater management and calls for an urgent need to address the treatment, disposal and reuse options. The focus till date has been conventionally on selection of technology for wastewater treatment and the incentive for actual reuse has been very less so far. Based on a review of literature and an assessment of successful reuse practices in other parts of the world the research intends to bring out aspects related to policies, regulatory practices and user perceptions as important factors in actual adoption of recycling and reuse of waste water and assess the interplay of these factors in selected local contexts in India.

The idea is to identify key lessons for addressing the challenge of urban wastewater treatment and reuse based on a review of available national and international literature and experiences – particularly with reference to:

  • approaches for promotion of wastewater reuse through policy initiatives

  • approaches for wastewater reuse through regulatory instruments

  • role of user perspectives in promotion of wastewater reuse

During my stay at IIAS and interacting with fellows here I was resolutely motivated to pursue and include in my research- history of water and wastewater management in ancient civilizations. I plan to pursue this as future research that I undertake.

Recent publications: 
  • "Performance Assessment of Solid Waste Management– A Case of Ahmedabad City", IConSWM, 2011, 2nd International Conference on Solid Waste Management, Jointly with Aasim mansuri and Prashant Pandya
  • "Non-aeronautical sources of revenues in Brown Field Airport Privatization: The Case of Mumbai International Airport Pvt". Limited (MIAL), APSA Congress, Ahmedabad, 2009, Jointly with Sahni Sakshi
  • "Opportunities and Challenges for Power Exchanges in India: The Case of Gujarat, National Conference on Integrated Energy Policy-Issues and Challenges", Ahmedabad, 2010, Jointly with Goyal Abhinav
  • “Waste-to-Energy Projects: A Green Business Opportunity”, paper presentation, October 2002, MWH Brekenridge Conference, Warwick, UK
  • "Policy Incentives and Disincentives for Waste-to-Energy: Comparative study of India and UK”, Individual Research Project, British Chevening Young Environment Managers, 2001