Five parks in Hyderabad selected to tackle urban flooding
As part of a novel initiative, five strategically chosen parks in Hyderabad have been earmarked to participate in a pilot project aimed at conserving rainwater and devising innovative solutions to address urban flooding issues.
Hyderabad: In novel initiative, five strategically selected parks in Hyderabad have been identified to be part of a pilot project that aims to conserve rainwater and find innovative solutions to the urban flooding problem. In collaboration with GHMC, the initiative is undertaken by The Rainwater Project and is expected to be completed by the end of March.
Kakatiya Park in Habsiguda, KLN Yadav Park, Indira Park, GHMC Park in Sainikpuri, and Techno Park are the five chosen parks for the project where different interventions according to the terrain of the parks will be used to set up rainwater harvesting systems.
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“The five parks cover major areas in GHMC, some of which have roads that were inundated in monsoons. Through this project, we hope to avoid repeat of such situations. We also want to develop a foolproof system to preserve rainwater, which usually ends up in sewers,” says Dr. N. Sunanda Rani, Additional Commissioner (UBD), adding that if the project is a success, the GHMC will replicate the system in other areas.
The selected parks are located in several low-lying areas of the city, which will enable the researchers to study the terrain and come out with innovative solutions to address the challenge of urban flooding.
Founder of The Rainwater Project Kalpana Ramesh says that using such parks to harvest water in monsoons is the smartest way to bump up groundwater levels.
After the project is completed, an impact assessment is expected to be conducted by IIIT Hyderabad to determine the increase in groundwater levels and the progress of the initiative.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) under AMRUT 2.0 rolled out a Shallow Aquifer Management (SAM) project with the National Institute of Urban Affairs. They selected 10 cities to fund new ways of tackling this long standing problem.
Apart from the Rs 20 lakh sanctioned by MoHUA, Commissioner Ronald Rose has arranged for additional funds to enhance the efforts. A detailed project report has already been submitted by The Rainwater Project and work is underway.
