The missing digital layer in India's water security

This article is authored by Visat Patel, CEO and co-founder, Ubiqedge.

India has spent years building one of the world's largest water infrastructure networks. That achievement deserves recognition. Through sustained public investment, millions of households now have access to tap water, while cities are expanding treatment and distribution capacity at an unprecedented scale. With much of the physical backbone now in place, the next challenge is no longer simply building more infrastructure. It is making existing infrastructure work better.

Water (PIXABAY)

The numbers reflect that progress. The Jal Jeevan Mission has already provided tap water connections to more than 15.7 crore rural households, while AMRUT 2.0 has committed ₹2.77 lakh crore to modernising urban water systems. These programmes have laid the foundation for a stronger and more reliable water network. As they mature, attention must now shift from construction to performance.

That is where digital infrastructure comes in.

India's next challenge is getting more out of the infrastructure it has already built. That means understanding how the network behaves on a day-to-day basis, spotting problems early and improving performance before they affect supply. Better visibility allows utilities to make better decisions, often before consumers even notice an issue.

This is not an engineering problem waiting to be solved. The engineering has already delivered an impressive physical network. What India now needs is a digital layer that helps infrastructure measure its performance, communicate problems and improve over time. In many ways, it is like giving the network a nervous system.

India supports nearly 18% of the world's population with only 4% of its freshwater resources. Per capita water availability, which stood at 1,486 cubic metres in 2021, is projected to decline to around 1,140 cubic metres by 2050, well below the internationally recognised water stress threshold of 1,700 cubic metres. Every litre already available within the system will matter even more in the years ahead.

Reducing water loss deserves as much attention as creating new supply. India's average Non-Revenue Water (NRW) stands at roughly 38%. The figure is usually discussed in terms of leakage and water that never generates revenue. It can also be seen as one of the country's biggest efficiency opportunities. Every percentage point recovered is water that has already been sourced, treated and pumped. Recovering even part of that volume increases available water without creating a new source.

Water networks naturally become more complicated as cities expand. Pipelines age, demand patterns change and equipment requires maintenance. What has changed is the ability to understand these systems while they are operating rather than after something goes wrong.

Pressure sensors, flow meters and real-time monitoring now help utilities detect small changes before they become major failures. A sudden drop in pressure often points to an issue that can be checked before residents notice any disruption. That gives utilities time to schedule repairs instead of rushing crews out after a failure, which usually costs less and causes fewer interruptions.

Groundwater is another area where better data can make a real difference. It supports nearly 62% of India's irrigation needs and about 85% of rural drinking water demand. Tracking aquifers more closely would help policymakers and utilities see how water levels are changing across regions, making it easier to respond before local shortages become harder to manage.

This approach is no longer theoretical. A growing number of Indian cities are already putting it into practice. Utilities equipped with pressure sensors, district metering areas and AI-enabled monitoring can see how their distribution networks are performing in real time. That makes it easier to spot unusual demand, locate problem stretches of the network and decide where maintenance teams should be deployed first.

Nagpur Municipal Corporation provides a useful example. After introducing AI-enabled monitoring, IoT sensors and robotic pipeline inspections, the city brought its Non-Revenue Water down from about 40% to below 29%. The numbers matter because they show these technologies are already producing measurable results under real operating conditions, not just in pilot projects.

None of this replaces pipelines, treatment plants or pumping stations. It simply helps those assets deliver better results over a much longer period.

Digital infrastructure is often viewed as an additional feature rather than a core investment. That mindset deserves to change. A relatively modest investment in sensors, telemetry and analytics can improve infrastructure that costs hundreds of crores to build. These technologies may not attract much public attention, but they often deliver value throughout the life of an asset by reducing water losses and improving maintenance.

The same principle applies to data. Valuable information already exists across central ministries, state utilities and Urban Local Bodies, but it often remains fragmented. If utilities collect and share information in compatible formats, comparing performance across cities becomes much easier. It also gives operators quicker access to the information they need when problems arise.

India has already followed a similar path in other sectors. Smart electricity meters are becoming increasingly common, while renewable energy projects routinely depend on remote monitoring to improve performance and maintenance. Water management is well placed to follow the same direction.

Technology alone, however, is never enough. Utilities will increasingly need engineers who can interpret dashboards alongside field inspections, supported by teams with expertise in SCADA systems and data analytics. Developing these skills inside utilities is just as important as buying new technology. Software and sensors can be installed in a few months, but the real gains come when in-house teams know how to use them well for years afterwards.

India's Water Vision 2047 aims to reduce non-revenue water to 20%. Achieving that target will require sustained investment in physical infrastructure alongside a stronger commitment to digital capability. Making IoT instrumentation a standard part of future AMRUT and Jal Jeevan Mission projects, expanding district metering areas and strengthening real-time analytics would all move the sector in that direction.

India has already shown that it can build public infrastructure at remarkable scale. The next chapter is about making every reservoir, pumping station, borewell and distribution network more intelligent, more connected and easier to manage. Water security has never depended only on creating new assets. It also depends on helping existing ones perform better, year after year. That may prove to be the country's most important water investment yet.

(The views expressed are personal)

This article is authored by Visat Patel, CEO and co-founder, Ubiqedge.