About the theme
India is facing increasing water stress, driven not only by limited freshwater availability but also by the way water is valued, governed, and used. With nearly 16% of the world’s population and only 4% of global freshwater resources, pressures on water systems are growing across the country. More than 600 million people already live under high to extreme water stress, and projections indicate that, without corrective action, water demand could significantly outstrip supply in the coming decades. Tata Trusts' approach to water is to treat it as a shared, finite common resource, rather than as isolated sources managed in sectoral silos. This understanding forms the basis of the Trusts’ One Water Approach, which recognises the interconnections between groundwater, surface water, wastewater, drinking water systems, agriculture, and ecosystems. Decisions in one part of the system inevitably influence outcomes across the rest of the system.
The One Water Approach in Action
Tata Trusts’ water security work is anchored at the community and landscape levels, guided by first-principles thinking and a holistic understanding of water as a shared resource. It begins by:
- Assessing water needs across uses – drinking and domestic requirements, agriculture, livestock, and livelihoods – and at the ecosystem level
- Mapping total water availability across all sources such as rainfall, surface water bodies, groundwater aquifers, and wastewater; recognising their hydrological interconnections, and
- Bridging the demand–supply gap through integrated, climate-resilient solutions that combine supply augmentation, demand management, and locally governed water stewardship for long-term sustainability.
Strategic Pillars
Restore and Recharge Water Availability:
The Trusts strengthen both natural ecosystems and built infrastructure to revive local water cycles and improve source sustainability. Interventions focus on enhancing the capacity of landscapes to capture, store, and recharge water through:
- Groundwater recharge using rainwater and treated greywater
- Integrated watershed and springshed development to restore hydrological balance
- Restoration, desilting, and capacity enhancement of ponds, lakes, and other surface water bodies
Reduce and Reform Water Demand:
The Trusts place strong emphasis on reducing and reforming water demand, particularly in agriculture, which accounts for the largest share of water use in rural India.
Interventions include:
- Promoting water-efficient crops and climate-appropriate cropping patterns
- Supporting micro-irrigation and climate-smart agricultural practices
- Encouraging household-level water conservation and responsible water use behaviours
- Enabling treatment and reuse of wastewater for agriculture and other non-potable purposes
Beyond physical infrastructure, the Trusts address the behavioural, institutional, and governance dimensions of water management. This includes strengthening community institutions, fostering collective stewardship of water as a shared common resource, and enabling convergence across government programmes, civil society, and knowledge partners. Guided by the One Water approach, the Trusts work to build resilient, equitable, and sustainable water systems that secure water for people, livelihoods, and ecosystems across India.
