Indore is accelerating a large-scale river restoration effort aimed at reducing sewage pollution in its urban waterways, a move city officials say is critical to improving the health of the region’s river systems before the 2028 Simhastha pilgrimage in neighbouring Ujjain. The ₹416-crore programme focuses on intercepting untreated wastewater and expanding treatment infrastructure to prevent contaminated flows from reaching the Kshipra river basin.At the centre of the initiative is the cleanup of the Kanh and Saraswati rivers, which pass through the city before eventually feeding into the Kshipra. Urban planners note that these waterways have long carried untreated domestic wastewater as Indore’s population expanded faster than its sanitation networks. The Indore river rejuvenation project aims to change that equation by building additional sewage treatment plants and upgrading sewer lines across key neighbourhoods. Municipal engineers are currently constructing three new treatment facilities under the national Namami Gange programme. These plants will process wastewater before it enters natural channels, a step experts say is essential to breaking the cycle of urban sewage flowing downstream into culturally significant rivers.
Officials overseeing the programme say the construction schedule has tightened in recent weeks, with teams instructed to accelerate installation work and deploy additional labour and equipment where necessary. The project also includes the installation of new underground sewer pipelines along key transport corridors using trenchless technology. This approach allows pipes to be laid beneath roads without extensive excavation, helping cities upgrade ageing sanitation infrastructure while minimising disruption to traffic and daily life. Urban water management specialists say such techniques are increasingly vital in dense Indian cities where infrastructure upgrades must occur alongside ongoing economic activity. By reducing surface disruption, trenchless systems allow civic bodies to expand underground networks without halting mobility or damaging urban streetscapes. A digital monitoring system is also being integrated into the project. From a command centre in Musakhedi, operators are using a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) platform to track water supply pressure, storage levels and operational performance across the city’s network in real time. Civic administrators say this level of oversight will help detect leaks, manage flows and ensure the new infrastructure performs efficiently once operational.
The broader objective extends beyond preparing for a religious gathering. Environmental planners argue that improving wastewater treatment in Indore could significantly reduce the pollutant load entering the Kshipra river basin. The river plays a central role in religious and cultural life in central India and is expected to attract millions of pilgrims daily during the Simhastha event. For rapidly expanding Indian cities, river restoration projects such as the Indore river rejuvenation project highlight a growing shift toward integrating sanitation infrastructure, digital monitoring and ecological protection. As urban populations rise and climate pressures intensify, experts say cities will increasingly need such systemic upgrades to safeguard both public health and fragile river ecosystems.
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Indore River Cleanup Plan Gains Construction Momentum
