Serving the urban population with adequate and safe water and sanitation services remains a serious challenge for state and urban local governments in India. Enhancing water service delivery levels is also crucial to furthering India's progress in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Urban areas throughout the country are striving to improve access, quality, quantity, efficiency and sustainability of urban water and sanitation services by redefining policies, using better technologies, improving management practices, targeting subsidies, exploring new financing options and forging new partnerships. The Government of India's Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) program and Capacity Building scheme for Urban Local Bodies (CBULB), Service Level Benchmarking (SLB), National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP) and Sustainable Habitat Mission are helping cities to accelerate ambitious initiatives for change.
The National Urban Water Awards (NUWA) are instituted by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India (GoI), in association with the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) to recognize, inspire and celebrate excellence in urban water management.

These awards have been instituted with the explicit purpose of honoring urban local governments, water boards and organizations that assist them in taking significant steps towards effective water management and effecting improvements in service delivery. The awards cover a wide spectrum of good practices across various categories that have resulted in enhanced quality of service delivery levels to the citizens at large and the poor and marginalized in particular. The Awards are a veritable showcase of innovative, inspiring and sustainable models in water management practices in urban India.

NUWA is unique in that it honors public and government institutions and recognizes the role of all stakeholders associated with service delivery improvement in urban areas.

The NUWA 2008, 2009 and 2010 got overwhelming response and secured nominations under various award categories from all over the country. The Awards aim to fulfill the purpose of recognising and disseminating good practices in water management that have led to improved service delivery.

Hon'ble Union Minister of Urban Development Shri Kamalnath awarded the winners of NUWA 2010 during the Award Ceremony held on 13 December 2011 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Kum. Sailaja, Hon'ble Union Minister of Housing and Poverty Alleviation, Shri Saugata Roy, Hon'ble Minister of State for Urban Development, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Dy. Chairman, Planning Commission and Dr. Sudhir Krishna, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development were among the dignitaries who felicitated the winners and addressed the delegates. A compendium covering entries of NUWA 2010 was released during the Award Ceremony.