Mapping Water in Chennai- Workshop Documentation

Workshop on

MAPPING WATER IN CHENNAI - THE FUTURE IN OUR HANDS Facilitated by Urban Design Collective October 07, 2016 | 12:00 pm - 01:30 pm for Embrace Our Rivers, Chennai Water Forum at Kalakshetra Foundation, Chennai

PROGRAM 12:00 - 12:10 Introduction to the workshop 12:10-12:20 Collective mapping of Chennai’s water sources by the participants 12:20-12:40 Identification of issues and gaps with regard to protection and management of Chennai’s water sources through personal experiences and knowledge sharing.

12:40-13:05 Participants will be divided into groups to discuss, ideate and come up with recommendations.

13:05-13:25 Presentation by Working groups with an Open discussion 13:25-13:30 Summary/ Concluding remarks

OBJECTIVE AND OUTLINE OF THE WORKSHOP The participatory workshop aimed at arriving at recommendations for the improved protection and management of Chennai’s water resources.

The workshop was conducted in four modules as listed here:

1 2 3 4

Mapping the sources of water in Chennai Identification of Gaps and Issues Future in Our Hands Group Presentation

1 Mapping the Sources of Water in Chennai The participants identified the various sources of water for the city of Chennai, ranging from lakes to rivers, canals, nalas, aquifers, desalination plants and temple tanks. The identified sources were all marked on a scaled map of Chennai using post-its.

2 Identification of Gaps and Issues Gaps, issues and concerns were identified with regard to the protection, distribution, management and maintenance of Chennai’s water and water bodies. Some of the questions that were used to steer the discussion are: • Which water bodies are regulated and which ones are not?

• What are the scales of water management?

• How do we organise ourselves around water distribution systems and accessibility to water sources?

• What are the various water-dependent livelihoods?

• Who controls & manages water in Chennai?

• What are the gaps/ issues/ concerns that we know of?

3 The Future in Our Hands In this session, each working group arrived at recommendations for improved protection and management of Chennai’s water resources under the following themes: • Design & planning • Technology and engineering • Governance • Innovation Working groups used this set of checks & balances provided to weigh their recommendations: • Does it use natural resources efficiently?

• Is it resilient to changes in climate, politics and economics?

• Does it minimize pollution and environmental impact?

• Does it provide for integrated environmental infrastructure?

• Does it promote sustainable construction industry activities?

• Does it ensure the health of city residents?

• Does it involve a participatory and transparent systems approach?

• Does it contribute to a livable and inclusive city?

Group 1: WAPAS Group 1’s project ‘Wapas’, as the name suggests focused on a recovery and revival strategy for Buckingham Canal. ‘Wapas’ developed strategies to revive Buckingham Canal so that it is once again navigable.

DESIGN • Restore Buckingham Canal as a water transportation spine for passengers and goods.

• • Revive Buckingham Canal through urban design, with a focus on aesthetics, to invoke a sense of pride for it among the residents of Chennai.

GOVERNANCE • A single governing body e.g. ‘Buckingham Canal Restoration Project’ should be formed to envision and oversee revitalisation of the Canal. This body should liaise and coordinate with all government and private stakeholders of the Canal.

• Policies should be put in place to ensure that no sewage or untreated water is released into the Canal.

• Policies should be put in place to forbid built encroachments on the Canal.

TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING • Learn from and implement best practices in restoration of urban water bodies.

INNOVATION

• Focus on environment-friendly technologies to revive the ecology of Buckingham Canal.

• Develop sustainable, minimally-polluting transportation modes, adapted from traditional catamarans and boats.

Group 2: Rain Drain Group 2’s proposed project ‘Rain Drain’, is a policy-driven approach that links street-level storm water infrastructure to the traditional system of community water tanks at the centre of each neighbourhood/agraharam. By decentralizing water collection and management at the neighbourhood level, the group hopes to mitigate large-scale flooding, help recharge local groundwater table, and create ownership for shared water resources.

DESIGN • Each neighbourhood should have its own community-level water tank, fed by stormwater drains from surrounding streets.

• Neighbourhood blocks in newly developing areas should be designed around community tanks.

TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING • Reformulate street design guidelines to integrate storm water collection network with neighbourhood-level community water tanks, minimising loss of water through surface run-off.

GOVERNANCE • Reformulate zoning laws to mandate creation of community water tanks within every neighbourhood.

INNOVATION • Develop cultural strategies that engage citizens positively with their neighbourhood-level tanks.

Group 3: Community Intervention Group 3’s project focused on ‘Community Intervention’ in low-income/ congested neighbourhoods that may be unable to implement rainwater harvesting at the individual household level. Their proposal included strategies to incentivize these communities to build and maintain their own communal water harvesting pits, charged by water from surrounding households. Eco-friendly and low-cost wastewater treatment solutions were also proposed.

DESIGN • Design of communal water harvesting tanks should incorporate recreational space for the community.

GOVERNANCE • Incentivize the construction and maintenance of community-built water harvesting tanks, via tax exemptions and other benefits.

• City and neighbourhood-level policies and bye-laws should incorporate the revival of existing water bodies and temple tanks to function as communal water harvesting tanks.

TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING • Promote use of Activated Effective Microorganism (AEM) cleaning solutions, which are cost-effective, natural and minimise pollution, reduce cost of wastewater treatment units, and produce treated water that can be reused by the community.

• Educate and incentivize the production and use of natural, minimally-polluting household and commercial cleaning products.

INNOVATION • Promote R&D of new products that work to reduce household level wastewater production.

Group 4: Micro Lakes Group 4’s project ‘Micro Lakes’ proposed strategies to streamline the treatment, transportation and distribution of water in Chennai. Key strategies included creating micro-level decentralized wastewater treatment systems across the city, and tackling illegal water distribution through legal and government intervention.

DESIGN

GOVERNANCE

• Design the optimization of Waste Water Treatment plants along water bodies, so as to return water back into the water system after its treatment.

• Create an autonomous government body to tackle illegal tapping, packaging and distribution of water in Chennai.

• Urban design of water bodies’ edges to promote public use.

TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING • Adapt existing, outdated wastewater treatment technologies to more contextspecific systems such as DEWATS, that reduce energy and costs incurred in the mass transportation of wastewater, and treatment at a centralized location.

• Educate and promote wastewater treatment at micro-level in communities across Chennai, to reduce dependency on centralized wastewater treatment facilities.

INNOVATION • Innovate new water transportation systems to prevent wastage through leakage, contamination etc.

4 Group Presentations As a closing exercise, all 4 groups presented their ideas to the rest of the participants. The ideas were critiqued and applauded by other groups based on the same set of checks and balances that were used during the working group sessions.

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 1. Silamboli.E 2. Aysha Shabnam 3. Oviya Elango 4. Abiram 5. S.Vimala Devi 6. N.Sankaran 7. Shri Oolaga 8. Santhan Athmanam 9. Hopeland.P 10. Anandaraj.A 11. SnithaBose

14. Juhi Goel 15. Suresh Balu K 16. Dr.M.Krishnaveni 17. C.G.Gowtham 18. S.Shobana 19. Prachi 20. Shanmathy 21. Hemalatha 22. Sudha 23. Rishabh 24. D.Ramya

12. Gokul Krishna 13. Kumudha Rishi

25. R.Gayathri

UDC FACILITATORS Devangi Ramakrishnan Abinaya Rajavelu

Prepared by Urban Design Collective