Vice-President Opens 9th India International Water Week 2026

Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan inaugurated the 9th India International Water Week (IIWW) 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on 22 September 2026. The five-day event, organised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti from 22 to 26 September, has the theme "Climate Resilient Water Management".

What was launched

• The Sustainable Urban River Management (SURM) Framework.
• AI/ML-driven Integrated Reservoir Sediment Management, a step towards technology-enabled, climate-resilient water management.

What the Vice-President said

• "Jal Suraksha will lead to Jan Suraksha and Rashtra Suraksha": water security leads to the security of people and the nation.
• India has about 2.4 per cent of the world's land and 18 per cent of its population, but only about 4 per cent of global freshwater, so its water use cannot be compared with water-rich, less populous countries.
• Small daily habits matter: bathing with two buckets instead of twenty, closing the tap while brushing.
• Climate change, urbanisation and population growth need an integrated approach: river-basin management, groundwater recharge, rainwater harvesting and efficient irrigation, with a shift from reactive to predictive, technology-enabled management.
• Inter-State cooperation is improving: 10 inter-State MoUs on water sharing have been signed, and the Kishau Multipurpose Project agreement among six States is an example.
• He recalled a 19,000-km Ratha Yatra across Tamil Nadu more than two decades ago to promote river interlinking and water conservation, and Prime Minister Modi's call for "Jal Sanchay Jan Bhagidari".

Why the launches matter

Urban rivers in India carry sewage and encroachment, so a framework for managing river stretches inside cities gives municipalities a common method for restoring them. Reservoir sediment, meanwhile, quietly eats into storage capacity year after year; using AI and machine learning to plan its removal is meant to keep dams working for longer. The Water Week itself is the Ministry of Jal Shakti's flagship international platform, bringing policymakers, researchers and industry together for five days of technical sessions and exhibitions.

Who was there

Union Jal Shakti Minister C. R. Patil, Ministers of State V. Somanna and Raj Bhushan Choudhary, Jal Shakti Secretaries Archana Varma and Ashok Meena, Central Water Commission Chairman Anupam Prasad, and delegates and experts from India and abroad.