Background:

Water crisis is particularly very severe in highly populated urban areas and it is going to be further aggravated with world becoming urban as pointed out by the World Commission Report on Environment and Sustainability by 2020. Urban water bodies play a vital role in addressing the severe water crisis that is looming over every urban city especially the developing countries where the unplanned urbanization is happening at a rapid rate. Both surface water and ground water face a huge threat and degrading both quality and quantity wise.

As per National Green Tribunal, more than 60 per cent of sewage generated by urban India is untreated and enters water bodies like rivers, resulting in pollution and making it unfit for human consumption. Traditional water bodies like tank systems, lakes, small ponds, etc. are at serious risk, due to negligence, Unplanned urbanization, encroachment of canals, catchment areas and lake fringes, and uncontrolled abstraction of groundwater which have resulted in water resources heading to the point of exhaustion.