Executive summary

Ensuring water security amidst rapid urbanisation and population growth is becoming a critical challenge for Indian cities. Varanasi, one of India’s oldest living cities and a critical urban centre along the Ganga River, faces similar challenges. Over the past five years, since 2021, the jurisdictional boundary of Varanasi Nagar Nigam (VNN) has expanded by over 78 per cent, and the city’s population has nearly doubled. As a result, the existing water supply and used water (sewage) infrastructure is no longer adequate to meet this rising demand (VSCL 2017). Only 48 per cent of households (HHs) have a formal water supply, while only 38 per cent are connected to the centralised sewerage network (UP Jal Nigam (Rural) Varanasi 2025). Due to inadequate public water supply and used water infrastructure, the city faces the dual challenge of unrestricted groundwater extraction to meet water demand and surface water contamination from the discharge of untreated used water. Addressing this requires a shift from a ‘linear’ to a ‘circular’ treat-andreuse approach to optimise freshwater use and improve the quality of local water sources. A hyperlocal plan is therefore essential for managing used water and scaling up its reuse.

Vision of the Reuse Plan

The Treated Used Water (TUW) Reuse Plan for Varanasi City has been developed by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) in association with the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and VNN. It aims to maximise the treatment of used water and its safe reuse for non-potable purposes, thereby enabling a circular economy approach to used water management in the city. This has substantial potential to reduce the city’s unsustainable reliance on groundwater, lower pollution loads from untreated sewage entering natural drainage systems, and directly support the rejuvenation of the local rivers, such as Varuna and Assi, which ultimately drain into the River Ganga.

The Reuse Plan sets three actionable targets for 2030 and 2040: expanding the sewerage network, improving the operational used-water treatment capacity, and maximising safe reuse by identifying suitable reuse avenues (Section 2). The 2047 targets include increasing sewerage network to 100 per cent, achieving full operational treatment capacity, and meeting the city’s estimated TUW reuse potential, ensuring that no untreated sewage is discharged into the environment.

Approach for developing the Reuse Plan

We followed a nine-step methodology to develop the Reuse Plan, building on an approach previously developed and applied in the city of Thane, Maharashtra (TMC and CEEW 2025). This methodology includes assessing Varanasi’s water resources and setting long-term treatment and reuse targets, while accounting for current and projected water demand and planned urban development. It also identifies the roles and responsibilities of municipal departments, state agencies, and national institutions operating in Varanasi. The plan was developed in close collaboration with VNN and draws on over 25 consultations with VNN officials from 18 departments and nongovernment stakeholders such as farmers. Field visits were conducted to sewage treatment plant sites and agricultural fields where TUW is already being used by some farmers for irrigation.

Key findings

• Groundwater levels: Under a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, groundwater levels are steadily declining, with the pre-monsoon groundwater depth declining at a rate of 68 mm per year during 2000–21. This trend is driven by unabated rates of extraction and evapotranspiration (~1,500 mm) that exceed the city’s average annual rainfall (~850 mm).
• Water quality: Surface water quality monitoring at one of three monitoring stations indicates persistently high pollution levels across all five years of assessment (2019–23). Pollution levels are particularly high in locations where untreated sewage is discharged into the Varuna and Ganga rivers, with faecal coliform levels exceeding 47,400 MPN/100 ml. Groundwater quality, assessed at two monitoring stations, is also poor, with elevated nitrate, total hardness, and magnesium levels, rendering it unsuitable for drinking in four out of five assessment years.
• Water balance: The water balance assessment indicates that Varanasi is likely to face a widening gap between water demand and supply under future growth scenarios (Figures ES1(A–B)). Under BAU population growth (3 per cent), unmet water demand is projected to increase from 117 million litres per day (MLD) in 2025 to 310 MLD by 2040. Under a high population growth scenario (assuming 6 per cent growth), unmet demand is projected to reach 581 MLD by 2040. TUW reuse can partially bridge this gap, reducing unmet demand by 3 per cent (to 301 MLD) under the BAU scenario and by 12 per cent (to 509 MLD) under the high-growth scenario by 2040. While increasing supply through infrastructure development to divert additional surface water is one option to address the deficit, integrating reuse into water supply planning offers a complementary pathway.

Figure ES1(A): Under the business-as-usual scenario, estimated reuse potential can meet 35% of unmet demand by 2040

• Used water treatment and reuse: As of 2025, the city generates nearly 465 MLD of sewage and has an installed treatment capacity of 422 MLD. However, actual treatment stands at only 354 MLD, and sewage treatment plants (STPs) remain underutilised due to limited sewerage network coverage (only 38 per cent of households are connected). As a result, untreated used water flows into 43 identified drains and subsequently discharges into the Varuna River.
• TUW reuse potential: At present, only around 3 per cent of TUW is being reused; however, there is potential to reuse up to 30 per cent of the currently available TUW in Varanasi. The plan identifies 12 reuse avenues in VNN (Figure ES2(a)) (Section 7), including agriculture (irrigation), Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW), railways, construction, industries, and landscaping (Figure ES2(B). The quantified reuse potential is estimated at 108 MLD (range: 91–127 MLD), which can meet 35 per cent of unmet water demand by 2040. Agricultural irrigation emerges as a priority reuse avenue, accounting for the city’s maximum reuse potential.

Figure ES1(B): In the high population growth scenario, unmet water demand can be reduced by almost 13% or 72 MLD with TUW reuse

• Treatment quality requirements: Currently, all STPs operate at the secondary treatment level. To achieve fit-for-purpose quality standards (Annexure 6) of all specified parameters across the identified reuse avenues, post-treatment interventions are required to generate TUW that is safe for use in contact-based and environmentally sensitive applications such as irrigation, landscaping, cleaning, construction, toilet flushing, firefighting, and waterbody rejuvenation. Upgrading to tertiary treatment would enable TUW to meet 100 per cent of the estimated reuse potential.
• Financial requirements for strengthening used water treatment: The life cycle cost of upgrading treatment technologies ranges from INR 0.9–3.1 crore per MLD for nature-based systems to INR 4.2–6.2 crore per MLD for filtration/media-based tertiary treatments.
• TUW tariff: By setting the TUW price at par with the current cost of groundwater extraction for revenue-generating sectors, including construction, coal plants, and industries, VNN could recover 77–93 per cent of the operational expenses required to upgrade 7 MLD of capacity to tertiary treatment for these sectors.

Recommendations for effective TUW reuse planning and implementation

• Institutionalise a city-level TUW reuse committee under the chairmanship of the commissioner, VNN: A broad-based stakeholder committee should serve as the apex body at the city level for mainstreaming TUW reuse initiatives. Chaired by the municipal commissioner, Jal Nigam (Urban) would act as the nodal agency for facilitating, coordinating, and implementing the Reuse Plan in the city. The committee should include all relevant VNN departments (e.g. Jal Kal Vibhag, Jal Nigam, and the Tax Department), institutional end users (e.g. Engineering Department for parks and gardens, Public Works Department (PWD)/Setu Nigam/National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for construction, and the Irrigation Department for agriculture), and community stakeholders, such as representatives from resident welfare associations (RWAs) and farmer producer organisations (FPOs).

Figure ES2(A): Identified reuse avenues and relevant stakeholders in Varanasi Nagar Nigam

Figure ES2(B): Spatial distribution of identified reuse avenues in Varanasi Nagar Nigam

• Prioritise sewerage network expansion and strengthen intra-departmental coordination for time-bound implementation: Jal Nigam (Urban) is undertaking sewerage network expansion, while Jal Nigam (Rural) is responsible for drain interception and diversion (I&D). Stronger coordination within Jal Nigam is required to ensure timely project completion and achieve the city-level targets outlined in the plan, namely, 60 per cent sewerage network coverage by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2040.
• Strengthen and upgrade existing treatment infrastructure and deploy decentralised wastewater treatment systems (DEWATS) to promote reuse: Priority STPs need to be partially upgraded based on the type of reuse avenue linked to the STP and the quantity of TUW required. For instance, Goithaha STP (for agriculture) and Ramnagar STP (for industrial reuse) need to be partially upgraded to tertiary and advanced treatment, respectively, to achieve fit-for-purpose quality standards. The plan recommends STP-specific interventions to improve operational efficiency and achieve these quality standards (Section 9.2, Table 6). The plan also suggests that Jal Nigam, in coordination with the Varanasi Development Authority (VDA), integrate DEWATS into master and zonal-level plans and prioritise implementation in central sewage zones (Districts 2B and 2C, and Problematic 18A), where supplying TUW through centralised STPs is not feasible and tapping drains provides a reliable inlet source.
• Mandate end-user institutions to formulate strategies for mainstreaming TUW reuse in their respective sectors: To enable effective uptake of TUW by end-user institutions, reuse provisions should be integrated into their project planning documents, aligned with the State Urban Wastewater Treatment (Recycle, Reuse and Disposal) Policy published in 2023 (RCUES 2023). Institutions such as PWD, NHAI, and Setu Nigam should incorporate mandatory TUW reuse clauses in tender documents and detailed project reports (DPRs) for their construction projects. Adoption can be incentivised by linking contractor incentives to higher TUW utilisation and by including TUW conveyance, on-site treatment (if required), and storage costs as reimbursable bill-of-quantities (BOQ) items for projects located beyond 10 km from the city boundary. For agricultural reuse, the irrigation department, in coordination with Jal Nigam, should develop water release schedules aligned with cropping calendars and gradually introduce a differential canal tariff system based on the area under irrigation via the canal and the cropping pattern.
• Ensure sustainable financing and effective cost recovery for TUW reuse infrastructure: Reuse projects must be financially sustainable, with risk-sharing among VNN, nodal departments, and private stakeholders. The plan recommends business models for VNN to implement reuse projects, including multi-stakeholder water swap models, Hybrid Annuity Model–Public– Private Partnership (HAM–PPP) with reuse, and direct end-user investments. Institutions such as PWD, NHAI, and Setu Nigam can leverage existing private-sector partnerships to develop PPP-based bulk supply agreements. Further, the TUW price should be sufficient to recover the urban local body’s (ULB) costs of treatment and conveyance. For instance, by setting the tertiary TUW price at par with current freshwater costs for revenue-generating sectors, such as construction, coal plants, and industries, VNN could potentially recover 77–93 per cent of the operational expenses associated with technology upgrades necessary to meet sectoral water demand.