Urban India produces an estimated 72,368 million litres of sewage a day. Installed treatment capacity covers less than half of that, and plants running below design capacity narrow the gap further still. This site tracks the technologies closing it, the policy funding them, and the news shaping the sector.
Last updated · August 2026
Stricter Central Pollution Control Board enforcement, the widening rollout of AMRUT 2.0, and expanding zero-liquid-discharge requirements are pushing industries and developers toward vendors who can prove compliance, not just capacity, industry coverage suggests.
With urban India generating over 52,000 million litres of wastewater a day and only about half of that effectively put to use, sector commentary points to a shift in priority: from adding treatment infrastructure to recovering water, energy and nutrients from what's already treated.
New anchor projects in Gujarat and Karnataka need ultra-pure water beyond what standard reverse osmosis delivers, widening demand for polishing and electrodeionisation systems alongside the brine-management capacity that ZLD compliance already requires.
The Union Budget for 2025–26 set aside roughly ₹67,000 crore for the Jal Jeevan Mission, a signal of the funding pressure behind sewerage and treatment upgrades across states.
Analysts covering the space expect the domestic wastewater treatment market to roughly double from its 2025 base over the next decade, citing urbanisation, tighter discharge norms and growing industrial reuse as the main drivers.
Removes coarse solids, grit and floatables before biological treatment begins, protecting downstream equipment from clogging and wear.
Bacteria grow on free-floating plastic carriers suspended in the aeration tank, giving a compact footprint without a separate clarifier stage in some configurations.
Aeration, settling and decanting happen in the same tank across timed cycles, which handles flow that varies sharply between day and night.
Combines biological treatment with a membrane barrier in place of conventional settling, producing consistently high-quality effluent suitable for direct reuse.
Removes dissolved salts and residual contaminants after biological treatment, for applications that need water purer than CPCB discharge norms require.
Evaporation and crystallisation recover essentially all water from concentrated effluent, leaving only solid residue for disposal — the highest-capex tier of treatment.
Central funding for water supply and sewerage infrastructure across urban local bodies, with a growing share directed at sewerage and treatment upgrades.
The second phase of India's urban renewal mission, with dedicated funding for sewerage networks and tertiary treatment aimed at non-potable reuse in cities.
The National Mission for Clean Ganga's flagship programme, funding STPs and interception works along the Ganga basin to cut untreated discharge into the river.