Storm Water Drainage Management

The increase in global temperature causes sea levels to rise and precipitation patterns to change. The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events made cities highly vulnerable to urban flooding incidents, claiming hundreds of human lives and damaging public and private assets. Primarily, cities are victims of such hazards due to inadequate stormwater drains, absence of early warning system, encroachment of natural drains and unplanned or lacking climate change sensitive urban development such as concretization of streets or open spaces. Thus, urban flooding is a highly complex issue. Cities must adopt a multidimensional approach, including technological and technical solutions, to address this challenge. Technological solutions include real-time monitoring systems for climate-related data and stormwater drains, while technical include the adoption of design solutions for reducing the flow of runoff water during rains, trap or reserve rainwater while raining electively, and build adequate stormwater drains, considering terrains. Measures like these can make cities less vulnerable to urban flooding.

Thus, the CSC project extended its support to its partner cities to develop technological and technical solutions. Technological solutions include support in developing a digital solution to monitor stormwater drainage systems of cities on a real-time basis with the help of citizen-centric and open-source platforms, e.g., Mu City Savior in Bhubaneswar and Flood Free in Kochi. Technical solutions include design solutions using sponge city concepts, which is expected to help reduce runoff water and reserve rainwater during heavy precipitation utilizing open spaces. Support has also been provided to the partner cities through a wide range of capacity building activities and the realization of relevant studies related to stormwater management.