Urban Water

The Urban Water programme designs pathways towards water-secure and flood-resilient cities. We do this by addressing knowledge gaps to enable effective decision making and building coalitions between governments, market players and civil society groups.

Domestic sewage discharge at Noyyal River. Photo by Rashmi Kulranjan.

The Gaps

Our Approach

Publications

Team

Water problems in cities and towns are complex and interconnected. The impacts of flooding and urban drought are expected to worsen as more and more land is built up, more people live in cities and extreme climate events grow more intense and frequent.

We have identified gaps in integrated urban water management (IUWM) in cities like Bengaluru and smaller towns in Karnataka such as Chintamani and ways to address them. IUWM involves a set of participatory planning and management approaches, going beyond traditional infrastructure-based water planning by taking into account institutional, social and governance aspects.

The Gaps

Fragmented data and efforts

One of the most challenging aspects of creating a viable long-term water strategy is getting accurate information. Data on water flows and stores is fragmented and not available in ways that are usable for civil society organisations, researchers and policymakers. Moreover, in cities like Bengaluru, there is no dearth of initiatives by different actors to revive water bodies, curb pollution and reuse wastewater. But many of these efforts remain local and there is little cross-learning and consolidation of efforts.

The map below shows different water management projects in Bengaluru, such as open wells, lake rejuvenation and stormwater drain restoration. It keeps evolving as we uncover new research and initiatives. This map also depicts how such work happens in isolation, each being carried out by a different set of people.

No repository of trusted solutions

One reason why solutions do not scale is because there is little clarity on what works, where and how. Besides, it is hard to quantify and abstract models to different contexts.

Lack of incentive alignment

To move from research on viable solutions and metrics to implementation, long-term financing options and an enabling policy environment are prerequisites.

Our Approach

Aggregating data and building an ecosystem

We are compiling data from various sources to paint a detailed picture of Bengaluru’s water system. When there is a comprehensive overview of the various processes occurring within an urban water system, it becomes easier to analyse how strategies can address multiple dimensions of water security planning.

Read | Why We Need Urban Water Balances

WELL Labs is an ecosystem builder—we foster collaboration and alignment between different cultures of work. We work with actors across the board, from government officials and market players to civil society groups, in an effort to build a strong coalition of partners geared towards building more equitable and safe cities.

Co-designing evidence-based and user-centric solutions

We work closely with research organisations to understand the efficacy of different solutions. In terms of wastewater, these range from scientific fixes to improve the standard of treated wastewater to exploring ways to promote behavioural change and address the ‘yuck factor’ barrier that prevents more widespread reuse. By vetting these solutions and taking successful pilots to other places in collaboration with our partners, we contribute to more widespread impact.

Designing market instruments and policies

Water recharge at the city scale through flood water capture and water reuse through wastewater treatment are capital-intensive procedures involving high set-up and operational costs. We are studying the potential of water credits to plug the gap in financing.

Publications

Team

Shreya Nath

Shreya Nath

Managing Partner
Urban Water
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Shreya leads the Urban Water Programme at WELL Labs.

Her role involves mapping urban systems to uncover ways to build climate resilient cities.

Shreya has over eight years of experience in sustainable architecture and urban planning. She has contributed to the design and execution of a wide range of projects ranging from large-scale, master-planning schemes to detail-oriented residential buildings.

She is also passionate about research in the field of sustainability and holds a Master’s in Sustainable Environmental Design from the Architectural Association, London. Her research is centered around strategies to adapt and respond to rapidly-changing climates and urban environments.

Shashank Palur

Shashank Palur

Hydrologist
Urban Water
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Shashank is a Hydrologist with the Urban Water programme at WELL Labs. He previously worked as a researcher in the Urban Lakes initiative.

He works on maintaining and updating the lakes web dashboard using the data collected from sensors in the lake, to make it easier for citizens to understand lake health. He is also co-authoring a series of articles on visible problems in Bengaluru’s lakes.

He completed his Master’s in Environmental Studies from TERI University with a focus on water conservation and hydrology. Before joining the Urban Lakes initiative he worked on spring rejuvenation in the Himalayas for a year with CHIRAG. He worked on geological surveying and community engagement.

Rashmi Kulranjan

Rashmi Kulranjan

Research Associate
Urban Water
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Rashmi is a PhD scholar at Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE).

Rashmi has a Master’s in Environmental Studies and Resource Management from TERI School of Advanced Studies. Her research work has mainly focused on looking at water demands by different sectors. Rashmi’s research interests include sustainable water management and anthropogenic effects on water resources.

Rashmi is currently a part of the Urban Water programme at WELL Labs and is simultaneously doing her PhD research on stakeholder-driven modeling to understand human water coupled systems by using the lakes of Bengaluru as a case study.

Rajesh R

Consultant - Senior Project Manager
Urban Water
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Rajesh is part of the Urban Water programme at WELL Labs with a focus on towns.

Being an interdisciplinary practitioner, he has spent over six years trying to figure out what it takes for governments both at state and regional levels to push the needle forward on water and sanitation by carrying out pilots, working with stakeholder groups, building IT/ICT tools and supporting the enabling environment. His engagements have been in the states of Uttar Pradesh and more recently, Tamil Nadu.

He holds a Master’s degree in Water Science and Governance from TERI School of Advanced Studies (TERI SAS).