A Review of IUWM Approach to Address Urban Water Challenges Faced by a Developing Country

Snigdha Sarita Mohapatra (), Meenakshi Arora, Wenyan Wu and Manoj Kumar Tiwari
Additional contact information
Snigdha Sarita Mohapatra: The University of Melbourne
Meenakshi Arora: The University of Melbourne
Wenyan Wu: The University of Melbourne
Manoj Kumar Tiwari: Indian Institute of Technology

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2025, vol. 39, issue 6, No 1, 2443-2461

Abstract: Abstract Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) has gained worldwide popularity for improving urban water supply systems through a more coordinated, responsive, and holistic approach. While urban water supply systems worldwide face many common challenges, developing countries like India face distinct challenges. These include high dependence on external water sources, interstate water conflicts, intermittent supply, inadequate infrastructures, and financial constraints. Moreover, the performance of the IUWM approach to the challenges varies locally. Insights from cities that have implemented IUWM can provide valuable lessons for improving India’s urban water supply system. This paper’s novelty lies in identifying distinct challenges faced by developing regions and analysing how IUWM can be tailored to address them, highlighting its feasibility, benefits, and implementation hurdles. Firstly, the study presents a content analysis of scientific literature on urban water supply system challenges worldwide, especially in India. Secondly, it examines the potential of IUWM reported worldwide. IUWM typically requires system planning and design, decision-support tools, and effective management. However, no universal solution exists as IUWM focuses on context-specific local-based solutions rather than one-size-fits-all. Despite its potential benefits such as ensuring reliable, robust, and self-sufficient urban water supply systems, implementing IUWM in India presents challenges. These include infrastructure financing, implemented scheme management, cost recovery of innovative designs, coordination between several decision-makers, and social acceptance. Finally, the paper highlights the need for future research on IUWM approach to address challenges specific to Indian urban water supply systems.

Keywords: Integrated urban water management; Water supply systems; Indian urban water supply; Developing country; Water management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-025-04150-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:39:y:2025:i:6:d:10.1007_s11269-025-04150-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-025-04150-5

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().