Preliminary assessment of urban water systems to understand trends and opportunities in Indian cities

Urban water systems are exposed to critical challenges such as rapid urbanization, population growth, and climate variability. These challenges further become more persistent because of unreliable supply, water insecurity, over-exploitation of resources, and inadequate policy integration. To overcome these challenges, there have been developments in urban water management strategies around the globe in multiple ways to mitigate their local water-related challenges. This study presents a preliminary assessment of urban water systems literature to identify major thematic areas, research emphases, and emerging trends at the global level, while explicitly examining how Indian cities are represented within this body of work. The study highlights that while both global and Indian urban water literature retain a strong technical orientation, global research has shown comparatively greater attention to integrated management approaches, governance, climate resilience, and system-level planning. Studies focusing on Indian cities, however, remain more concentrated on technical and supply-oriented challenges, with comparatively limited engagement with institutional and integrative perspectives. This uneven thematic emphasis reveals important gaps in how global urban water management insights are translated into the Indian urban context. By positioning Indian urban water studies within dominant global research themes, the review identifies key gaps and future opportunities relevant to Indian cities. The findings underscore the need for more context-sensitive, integrative, and sustainability-oriented research to support effective urban water management in India.