AMRUT 2.0 and Smart Water Management: How Technology Can Help Build Water-Secure Cities
Water-secure cities aren't built on pipelines alone. Discover how AMRUT 2.0 — paired with SCADA, IoT, smart metering and digital twins — is helping Indian cities cut losses, monitor quality in real time and reuse every drop. See what Rajkot, Jamnagar, Vadodara and Agra are already achieving.
EDUCATIONALCASE STUDY
Rimashree
9/15/20267 min read
A city can have kilometres of pipelines, treatment plants and reservoirs—and still struggle to deliver water efficiently.
The challenge is no longer simply finding and supplying water. It is knowing where water is going, how much is being lost, whether the network is performing efficiently, and how cities can prepare for tomorrow's demand.
This is where smart water management enters the picture.
India's AMRUT 2.0 (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation 2.0) puts water security at the heart of urban development. The mission aims to make cities more water- secure while expanding functional tap connections, improving water management, promoting reuse and recycling, rejuvenating water bodies and strengthening sewage and septage management. (AMRUT 2.0 Collaboration Platform)
But building water-secure cities isn't just about laying more pipes. It is about making every drop count.
What Is AMRUT 2.0?
Launched in 2021, AMRUT 2.0 builds on the earlier urban transformation mission with a stronger focus on water security and sustainable water management.
Its vision goes beyond simply increasing water supply. The mission encourages cities to conserve water sources, rejuvenate water bodies and wells, promote rainwater harvesting, and recycle and reuse treated water. It also targets improved sewage and septage management across AMRUT cities. (AMRUT 2.0 Collaboration Platform)
One of its important reform goals is reducing non-revenue water (NRW)—water that enters a distribution system but does not generate revenue, often because of leaks, theft, inaccurate measurement or other losses.
And this is where technology can make a major difference.
From Water Networks to Smart Water Networks
Traditional water networks largely depend on physical infrastructure and periodic monitoring. Smart water networks add something powerful to that infrastructure: real-time intelligence. Sensors can collect information about flow, pressure, water quality and consumption.
Communication networks can transmit that information, while software platforms can bring it together for analysis and decision-making.
Instead of asking:
“How much water did we supply yesterday?”
utilities can move towards asking:
“What is happening across the network right now—and what is likely to happen next?”
That shift from reactive management to proactive management could transform urban water supply.
1. SCADA: Turning Data Into Control
A key technology in modern water management is SCADA—Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. SCADA systems can help utilities monitor and control water infrastructure from a central platform. Operators can track parameters such as reservoir levels, pumping operations, flow rates and pressure, allowing them to respond faster when something goes wrong.
Imagine a sudden pressure drop in one part of a city's network. In a conventional system, the problem might only become obvious after complaints begin arriving.
In a smart system, abnormal readings can trigger an alert, allowing operators to investigate the issue much earlier.
The result? Faster response, better visibility and potentially less water wasted.
2. IoT: Giving the Water Network a Sense of Awareness
If SCADA helps utilities monitor and control systems, IoT (Internet of Things) can help connect the physical water network with a continuous stream of data.
Smart sensors and connected devices can monitor:
Water flow
Pressure levels
Consumption
Tank and reservoir levels
Water quality
Possible leaks and abnormalities
This creates a living data layer over the physical network. And that matters because a water network is not static. Demand changes throughout the day.
Pressure fluctuates. Equipment ages. Leaks appear. Consumption patterns shift. IoT helps cities see these changes instead of simply reacting to them.
3. Smart Metering: Measuring What Matters
You cannot manage efficiently what you cannot measure accurately.
Smart water meters can provide more detailed information about water consumption than conventional meters. At the utility level, this data can help identify unusual consumption patterns, improve billing accuracy and support better demand management.
At a larger scale, smart metering can also contribute to understanding where water is being consumed—and where losses may be occurring.
For a water-secure city, measurement isn't just about billing. It's about intelligence.
4. Digital Twins: Creating a Virtual Water Network
One of the most exciting developments in smart infrastructure is the digital twin.
A digital twin creates a digital representation of a physical system. In water management, it can bring together information from GIS, sensors, meters, SCADA systems and other sources to create a more comprehensive view of the network.
Think of it as giving a city a digital mirror of its water infrastructure.
Utilities could use such models to understand network behavior, analyze scenarios and support better planning and decision-making.
Instead of simply responding to today's problem, cities can begin asking:
“What happens if demand increases?”
“What happens if this pipeline fails?”
“Where could pressure become a problem?”
That is the difference between managing infrastructure and anticipating its future.
5. Water Quality: From Periodic Testing to Continuous
Awareness Water security isn't only about quantity. Quality matters just as much.
Technology can support more frequent and, where appropriate, real-time monitoring of water quality parameters. Connected monitoring systems can help utilities identify unusual changes and respond more quickly.
AMRUT 2.0 also places emphasis on water quality assessment and capacity building as part of its broader water-security approach. (AMRUT 2.0 Collaboration Platform)
The goal is simple:
Safe water should not only reach the tap. Cities should have greater visibility into the quality of that water along the way.
AMRUT 2.0 in Action: Projects Already Making a Difference
AMRUT 2.0 is not merely a vision written on paper. Across Indian cities, projects under the mission are already translating water-security goals into physical infrastructure. From new water-supply networks and treatment infrastructure to sewerage systems and rejuvenated water bodies, the programme is creating a wide range of urban water assets.
Rajkot: Building a Stronger Water Distribution Network
Rajkot provides a good example of how large-scale water infrastructure can be strengthened through multiple interconnected projects.
The official AMRUT 2.0 project portal lists several completed water-supply projects in the city, including distribution networks in Ward 10, Ward 11 and Ward 12, with project values of approximately ₹64.4 crore, ₹63.7 crore and ₹40.6 crore respectively. A further ₹67.5-crore water- supply project covering the Manhar and Madhapar areas is also marked as completed.
These projects demonstrate an important principle of modern water management: water security is not created by one giant project alone. It is built by strengthening the network, connection by connection, zone by zone.
Jamnagar: Strengthening Water Transmission and Treatment
In Jamnagar, AMRUT 2.0 has supported significant water-supply and wastewater infrastructure. The official portal records a ₹118.24-crore DI rising-main water-supply project as completed, along with a ₹24.27-crore pipeline project connecting Ranjitsagar Dam to the pumping and filter- plant system. Several sewage-treatment and pumping-station projects under the mission are also listed as completed.
This kind of infrastructure is particularly important because a city's water security depends not only on its source, but also on the ability to move, treat and distribute that water reliably.
Vadodara: Combining Water, Wastewater and Water-Body Rejuvenation
Vadodara offers another interesting example of the broader AMRUT 2.0 approach.
The official project database lists completed projects including a 21 MLD sewage treatment plant at Undera, along with the development and rejuvenation of water bodies such as Kapurai Lake and Ramnath Lake.
This illustrates an increasingly important idea in urban water planning: Water security is not just about supplying more water. It is about managing the entire urban water cycle.
Agra: Moving Towards Water Reuse
Agra's AMRUT 2.0 projects show another side of this approach—reuse.
The official project database records a completed project for supplying 5 MLD of treated sewage from the 10 MLD Pilakhar STP for reuse at the Waste-to-Energy plant at Kuberpur, valued at approximately ₹6.6 crore.
It may seem like a relatively small project compared with a city's overall water network, but the principle is significant: treated wastewater doesn't necessarily have to be treated as waste.
It can become a resource.
These projects highlight an important reality: water security is not achieved through one technology or one infrastructure project. It requires a connected approach—one that combines reliable physical infrastructure with data, monitoring, conservation, treatment and reuse. And this is where the next generation of smart water management becomes particularly important.
Technology + Sustainability = Water Security
Technology alone cannot solve India's urban water challenges.
Smart sensors cannot replace good infrastructure. Digital platforms cannot replace skilled operators. And data is meaningless if nobody turns it into action.
The real opportunity lies in bringing infrastructure, technology, people and sustainable practices together.
AMRUT 2.0's emphasis on recycling and reuse reflects this broader approach. Its guidelines include goals such as meeting part of water demand through recycled water and reducing non-revenue water, alongside rejuvenating water bodies. (AMRUT 2.0 Collaboration Platform)
That means the future of urban water management isn't simply:
Source → Treatment → Pipeline → Consumer
It is increasingly becoming:
Source → Treatment → Smart Distribution → Monitoring → Reuse → Conservation → Better Planning
A circular, intelligent water ecosystem.
Technology can make water systems smarter. Sustainability can make them last. But when the two come together, they can help cities move closer to genuine water security.
AMRUT 2.0 is already translating this vision into projects across India. From strengthening water distribution networks to expanding wastewater treatment, rejuvenating water bodies and encouraging the reuse of treated water, cities are beginning to address water security from multiple angles.
Building Cities That Are Ready for Tomorrow
India's cities are growing rapidly. Water demand will grow with them. Climate variability, ageing infrastructure and rising pressure on freshwater resources make efficient water management increasingly important.
The answer isn't necessarily to build bigger systems.
It is to build smarter systems.
AMRUT 2.0 provides an important framework for moving towards water-secure cities. Technology can provide the intelligence needed to make that vision more measurable, responsive and sustainable.
Because the future of urban water management isn't just about supplying more water.
It's about understanding every drop, protecting every source and wasting as little as possible.
And when cities can see their water networks clearly, respond to problems faster and make decisions based on real-time intelligence, water security stops being just a goal—and starts becoming a system.
Photo by Orhan Akbaba
Photo by Victor Koonoo
