In 2016, the National Water Authority, with the collaboration of 2030 WRG and other members of the Peru multi-stakeholder platform, launched the Blue Certificate—a national award recognizing companies’ efforts to reduce their water footprint—to increase water-use efficiency and treated wastewater reuse among private sector companies. The Peruvian Government Procurement Entity also joined the initiative by granting additional points in all public bids to companies that have been awarded the Blue Certificate.

The Blue Certificate is granted to water-responsible private companies that assess their water footprint based on the ISO 14046 standard, commit to engaging in a concrete activity to accomplish water footprint reductions, and implement shared-value strategies and projects with communities in the watersheds where they work. The Blue Certificate has helped the government recognize and encourage companies to implement water-saving measures, and has strengthened the relationship between the public and private sectors.

In Mongolia, 2030 WRG supported IFC’s Mining and Water Management Roundtable, which was established in 2013 to engage mining companies in the South Gobi region to improve their water management and stakeholder engagement practices.

The roundtable led to the development of a voluntary code of practice for sustainable mine water management, based on leading international best practices. Eleven mining companies signed and adopted the code as “a powerful display of corporate accountability,” as the first signatories said. The code has been a critical step toward building trust among local stakeholders working to manage common water resources.

To support water pollution management, 2030 WRG developed a new water pollution fee law in Mongolia, approved by the country’s Parliament and Cabinet, which promotes wastewater reuse and incentivizes large businesses to treat wastewater onsite. 

Involving large water users such as power plants, beverage companies, public commercial utilities, and mining companies in proposing changes to the law has helped to reduce water use and wastewater discharge, and increased pre-treatment of industrial pollutants by companies before discharge to central sewers. A total of 22 companies in eight sectors are implementing pre-treatment, with an overall impact of 60 million m3 or reduced wastewater discharge into the Tuul River.

In Bangladesh, 2030 WRG is engaged in a water pollution management accelerator to support the implementation of the government’s Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100, a long-term 100-year visionary plan for strategic interventions for the largest delta in the world. Under the water pollution management accelerator program, 2030 WRG works to mainstream water pollution management by mobilizing both private sector capital and expertise, with the private sector also providing a climate change mitigation and adaptation perspective. The accelerator focuses on municipal and industrial wastewater management, with innovative financing mechanisms—looking at financing opportunities that go beyond conventional financing—cutting across both areas. Initially, the accelerator program targets:

• Mobilizing $300 million in public finance for wastewater management by 2025.
• Mobilizing $100 million in private finance for wastewater management by 2025. 
• Reaching about 20 million people (directly and indirectly) with wastewater management services.
• Treating more than 65 million m3 of wastewater by establishing central effluent treatments plants and sewage treatment plants in economic zones and city corporations.

In the water-scarce Barind tract in Bangladesh, 2030 WRG is working directly with farmers on an agri-water management project that introduces innovative water-saving technology and production methods for mango and rice. The work, which started in 2018, is in partnership with The Coca-Cola Foundation. The project aims to reduce the demand for groundwater during production to generate significant water savings while helping to lower carbon emissions. Over five years: 

• The project has reached an estimated 190,000 beneficiaries directly and indirectly—with benefits to not only the farmers but also their communities and the clients of the farmer hubs who provide the services.
• The groundwater abstraction avoided—saving through scaling high efficiency irrigation such as alternate wet and dry irrigation and drip irrigation—is 16.7 million cubic meters of water.
• The project has increased rice production by about 400 kilograms per hectare of land. Cumulatively, from 2018 to 2023, almost 380 hectares of land have been covered through direct alternate wet and dry irrigation interventions with farmers.

2030 WRG supported a taskforce led by the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) to develop a concept on mobilizing private sector participation and innovative financing mechanisms for centralized effluent treatment plants (CETPs) in economic zones. This initiative led to the development of the country’s first PPP-based CETP for industrial wastewater management.

2030 WRG played a catalyzing role by conducting a feasibility study, developing viable business models, and supervising the procurement process for the CETP. To support the process, a CETP facilitation and monitoring unit was established within BEZA to ensure it achieves its goal to establish more than 100 green economic zones by 2030.

The accelerator in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is helping 1 million farmers improve their incomes and enhance sustainable agriculture and water management practices across key crop value chains in the state.  PRAGATI (Program for Agricultural Transformation and Increased Incomes) is expected to result in the adoption of improved water-use efficiency techniques and climate-resilient water management covering an area of 1 million hectares in Uttar Pradesh. It aims to align with government activities and leverage private sector partnerships and financing to reduce the water footprint and agricultural emissions, and improve agricultural productivity and incomes. The accelerator:

• Promotes the adoption of climate-smart technologies and innovative low-carbon agricultural practices. 
• Helps farmers access these climate-smart solutions and technologies through innovative service delivery models and financing channels. 
• Drives state-wide ecosystem development approaches, and integrates value-chain focused interventions for the main crops in the state, including rice, sugarcane, mango, millets, and horticulture. 
• Leverages the power of digital tools and platforms to reduce transaction costs, improve delivery timelines, and enhance transparency and accountability to support farmers through the creation of digital public infrastructure.

In a significant step toward revitalizing the Ganga River basin, the Indian government, in collaboration with 2030 WRG and the World Bank, pioneered the country’s first PPPs for municipal wastewater treatment and reuse in 2015. This initiative aimed to prevent untreated wastewater discharge and foster efficient water use. The partnership instigated a pilot project in the cities of Mathura and Vrindavan to facilitate sustainable operations and maintenance of wastewater treatment plants, with participation from the private sector. By 2017, PPPs had launched in three towns (Mathura, Varanasi and Haridwar), expanding in 2019 to 13 towns in the Ganga basin. The project’s innovative model, which secured the World Bank Sustainable Development Vice President’s Award in 2018, allocates 40% of the project cost to be covered by the government during construction phases, with the remainder disbursed over 15 years as annuities alongside operation and maintenance costs.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation and the India-EU Water Partnership (IEWP), 2030 WRG supported the development and ratification of a blueprint for water accounting to enable objective and transparent decision-making on demand-side water management. The blueprint led to the launch of a water accounting implementation training module for central government officials and experts. The initiative was replicated in the state of Maharashtra. Under the blueprint initiative, 2030 WRG also supported the development of dashboards and indicators for Ganga municipal and industrial wastewater, in partnership with the National Mission for Clean Ganga, IEWP, and GIZ. The blueprint led to the creation of a taskforce on blended finance and cost recovery.

2030 WRG conceptualized one of the world’s largest community drip irrigation projects, with the participation of irrigation infrastructure companies, and facilitated linkages between the farmers, market players, and agribusiness companies. The original farmer-centric project covers 24,000 hectares of irrigation area. Using the same amount of water, this system has doubled the area of irrigated land, reducing the freshwater abstraction by 24 million m3 as a result. The project benefits 15,000 farmers.  Encouraged by the Ramthal project’s success, the government has replicated this inclusive and sustainable development model over an additional 100,000 hectares. 2030 WRG has facilitated close to $650 million in financing for Ramthal and its replication in the state of Karnataka.

The Government of Karnataka approved a policy for wastewater reuse for urban centers in December 2017, marking the culmination of extensive stakeholder deliberations to support the enabling environment for wastewater reuse. The policy, coupled with the establishment of a Wastewater Reuse Resource Cell to implement the policy, was developed under the Urban Water Workstream of 2030 WRG’s Karnataka Multi-Stakeholder Platform for Water (MSP-Water). 2030 WRG established a multi-stakeholder wastewater reuse policy committee, which comprised members from the Government of Karnataka, private sector, and civil society, and supported policy drafting.

The policy provides a comprehensive framework for wastewater reuse in Karnataka, integrating principles of cost recovery, equity, and sustainability for urban wastewater management. It also includes a special focus on industrial reuse of treated urban wastewater, with the intention of supporting financial sustainability of urban local bodies and mitigating water supply risks for industry.

In Kenya, the accelerator is working with the World Bank’s Water Global Practice to facilitate $10 million for improved operational efficiency and WASH service delivery, targeting public water service providers and WASH service providers. Operational efficiency will improve the creditworthiness of water service providers and enhance their eligibility for commercial financing, helping to close an investment gap of $8.32 billion (2023 to 2030) as estimated in the Kenyan government’s National Water and Sanitation Investment Plan.

Lessons learned from the financing facility will be a reference for and catalyze the development of innovative models to attract additional commercial financing to the water sector. The accelerator also targets a cumulative reduction of municipal water losses from 40% to less than 25%, with access to WASH services for 2 million people. The targets will be facilitated jointly through World Bank operations.

In Kenya, a climate-smart irrigation facility worked to increase water-use efficiency and accelerate water productivity improvements in agricultural cultivation, particularly with smallholder farmers. As part of this initiative and with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation’s leadership and 2030 WRG’s technical assistance, an irrigation financing facility was rolled out in 2016/17 in partnership with IFC.

The pilot project worked with about 500 out-growers, leveraging partnerships among key stakeholders across the value chain (equipment suppliers, off-takers, and two commercial banks) to provide access to credit, training, and agronomic support to smallholders requiring irrigation systems.

2030 WRG’s effort in scaling out the water administration system across multiple irrigation systems has resulted in a 2% closure of the water gap, equivalent to nearly 50% of the demand from South Africa’s Nelson Mandela Bay metro, home to over 1.1 million residents. 

The 2030-WRG founded platform in South Africa has been instrumental in implementing the water administration system in 21 major irrigation schemes throughout South Africa, covering an irrigated area of more than 190,931 hectares and including more than 10,000 farmers. The tool allows water user associations to manage water accounts and automatically calculate supply and demand through rivers, canal networks, and pipelines. This allows real-time tracking of water distribution. The system also helps farmers make informed decisions on crop management based on water availability.

In partnership with the Department of Water and Sanitation, the Strategic Water Partners Network—a multi-stakeholder platform established by 2030 WRG in South Africa—initiated the No Drop program to enhance water-use efficiency and reduce non-revenue water at the municipal level. This regulatory innovation, which the government adopted in 2013, uses a scorecard system to assess and rank municipalities on criteria like water losses and revenue collection.

The program saw swift adoption, with full implementation in South Africa’s eight metros by 2015 and expansion to all major municipalities by 2016. It has influenced important legislative amendments, including stricter regulations on water usage during drought periods and enhanced penalties for illegal connections.