River Revival Playbook: How Companies, Cities and Communities Restore Urban Rivers in India
The four-layer river model, the UN-backed Mithi River project funded by Huhtamäki, national river data, and what five companies in the Above Average band of TERRA, Earth5R’s ESG intelligence platform, report about their water work. Plus a programme charter and a planning workbook you can download and adapt.
What the playbook covers
- Why urban rivers fail
- India’s rivers by numbers
- The Earth5R river model
- Case study: Mithi River, Mumbai
- Case study: Mula Mutha, Pune
- Case study: Powai Lake and the Yamuna
- Best cases from TERRA: water and rivers
- Ten steps to launch a river programme
- Budget template
- A river programme charter
- Measuring, reporting and an indicator bank
- Five lessons from the field
- Checklist for CSR committees
- Glossary of river programme terms
Free templates
River Programme Charter (Word)
Ten sections to complete before a river, lake or creek programme goes to your CSR committee: stretch, baseline, objectives, partners, where every fraction goes, safety, assets under Rule 7(4), monitoring, exit and approvals.
River Programme Workbook (Excel)
An editable budget, a waste audit log with automatic totals and estimated avoided emissions, monthly monitoring against baseline and target, a hotspot tracker and a partner roles sheet.
India’s rivers by numbers
CPCB’s 2022 assessment found 311 polluted river stretches on 279 rivers, 55 of them in Maharashtra. India’s cities generate 72,368 MLD of sewage, but only 20,235 MLD, about 28%, is actually treated. India generated 41.4 lakh tonnes of plastic waste in 2022-23. Visible waste is the smaller half of the problem.
The four-layer river model
Intercept what is already in the water. Train the catchment. Give every fraction somewhere to go. Measure, then hand over. Funded together, these four layers are what made the Mithi project work.
Case study: the Mithi River, Mumbai
Huhtamäki, the global packaging company, funded a €0.6 million project delivered by Earth5R with United Nations Technology Innovation Labs, RiverRecycle and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. A solar-powered recovery unit caught floating waste in the channel while 10,000 families and 500 businesses were trained in the catchment. Between October 2020 and November 2024 it removed 11,100 tonnes of waste, 4,440 tonnes of it plastic, and avoided an estimated 6,660 tonnes of CO₂e (no credits issued or claimed). Earth5R then handed operations to the delivery partners. Read the full Mithi case study.
Best cases from TERRA: water and rivers
Each company below sits in the Above Average band of TERRA, Earth5R’s ESG intelligence platform. We read their own reports for water, lake and watershed work others can learn from.
| Company | Programme | What their reports show | Lesson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hindustan Unilever | Water for Public Good (Hindustan Unilever Foundation) | 4.5+ trillion litres of cumulative water potential; 2.7+ million tonnes extra farm output; 125+ million person-days; 19,000 villages; independently assured to FY2024-25 | Measure water, not spend |
| Infosys | Lake rejuvenation | 11 lake projects; 4.3 billion litres of additional water capacity, including Doddathoguru lake, Bengaluru | Restore lakes near your own sites |
| Persistent Systems | Integrated Watershed Development, with BAIF | 29 villages in Maharashtra and Goa; 495 acres; 257 lakh litres of storage (FY2025-26) | Tie water to livelihoods |
| Dalmia Bharat | Dalmia Bharat Foundation water conservation | 6,353 structures; 886 lakh KL harvested; 67,540 beneficiaries. Only 30% of programme households reported water problems vs 58% in a comparison group (CII-CESD assessment) | Test against a comparison group |
| HCLTech | HCLFoundation Harit, Wake the Lake at Bidru Lake, Bengaluru | 20 percolation wells, 2,560 KL of rainwater harvesting potential; weekly fish catch up from 100-150 kg to 300-350 kg (PwC assessment, 2024) | Publish what failed as well as what worked |
Budget template: nine components
The nine budget components published for Earth5R’s Mumbai river cleanup CSR project. Paying community collectors, data and monitoring are budgeted lines, not afterthoughts. The Excel workbook lets you edit every line.
| Component | Amount (₹) |
|---|---|
| Awareness campaign | 10,00,000 |
| Youth mobilisation | 15,00,000 |
| Collection stations | 20,00,000 |
| Transport and logistics | 15,00,000 |
| Paying community collectors | 25,00,000 |
| Crusher, baling unit and tools | 30,00,000 |
| Tracking and data | 15,00,000 |
| Monitoring and reporting | 5,00,000 |
| Reserve fund | 10,00,000 |
| Total of the nine components | 1,45,00,000 |
10 questions before you fund a river project
- Is there a dated baseline: mapped stretch, first waste audit, hotspot photos?
- Does it work in the catchment, not only in the channel?
- Does every waste fraction have a named destination?
- What share of the budget reaches waste pickers and residents?
- Is municipal permission in writing, with the ward office in the plan?
- Which partner NGO is already trusted in this catchment?
- What is the safety plan near water?
- How will results be verified: weights, receipts, app logs, surveys?
- Are emissions labelled as estimated avoided emissions, never credits?
- Who runs it in year three, and who owns the assets?
Cite or share this playbook
CSR teams, municipal officers, NGOs, universities and resident groups are welcome to link to this page, add it to reading lists or training material, and embed the infographics. Please link to this page rather than the PDF, so readers always get the latest edition.
Questions
Is the River Revival Playbook free?
Yes. The playbook, the River Programme Charter (Word) and the River Programme Workbook (Excel) are free to download without a sign-up, and free to share or adapt with credit to Earth5R.
Can a company fund a river cleanup under CSR?
Yes. River and lake restoration falls under Schedule VII, item (iv), environmental sustainability, including maintaining the quality of water. The playbook shows what to report and what not to claim.
How much does a river cleanup CSR project cost?
The playbook sets out the nine budget components published for Earth5R’s Mumbai river cleanup CSR project, from awareness and collection stations to paying community collectors, processing equipment, data and monitoring. The workbook lets you scale each line to your stretch.
How many rivers in India are polluted?
CPCB’s 2022 assessment identified 311 polluted river stretches on 279 rivers across 30 states and union territories, with Maharashtra having the most (55).
Who funded the Mithi River project?
Huhtamäki, the global packaging company, funded the €0.6 million project, delivered by Earth5R with United Nations Technology Innovation Labs, RiverRecycle and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.
Can I use the infographics on my website?
Yes. Each infographic on this page has embed code. Please keep the credit link to this page.
Does Earth5R run river programmes with NGOs?
Earth5R designs and measures river and lake programmes in India and delivers them with partner NGOs, municipal bodies and technology partners. Talk to us through the contact page.