Online Training on Water Sensitive Urban Design & Planning - Approach, Challenges & Potential

Dates: August 03 - 20, 2022
Training Duration: 16 hours(self-paced - 8 hours and virtual sessions - 8 hours)
Learning Platforms: Moodle and Zoom
Training Type: Online 

School of Water and Waste, in partnership with National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) organized an online training programme on Water Sensitive Urban Design and Planning from August 03 – 20, 2022. The training aimed at capacity building of State / Municipal functionaries and other sector players involved in city planning and urban infrastructure development. This online training is a part of a series of activities envisaged under 3-year duration CSE programme – ‘Capacity building initiative focusing on ‘Making Ganga basin cities water sensitive’. Under this initiative series of – webinars, workshops, trainings (both online and residential), field exposure visits, and knowledge conclaves aimed at engaging 1,300+ state / municipal functionaries and other sector players.  

The training received an overwhelming response with 115+ registered participants from 40+ cities of 14 States (including 11 Ganga basin states and Maharashtra), including State programme management groups (SPMGs), planners (urban/regional/environment), engineers, joint directors and assistant directors from town and country planning departments, and officials from urban development authorities across six countries worldwide. 

This online training was divided in 2 modules spread over two weeks (18 days). The training Module was prepared based on the basic needs assessment to recognize the level of understanding towards the course. Reading material was uploaded on the online course moodle platform for the participants. The course methodology included a hybrid active learning format of 16 hours, 8 hours of essential reading material on moodle and 8 hours of live virtual sessions. 

The programme was based on state-of-art teaching–learning tools consisting of interactive sessions, essential and desirable reading materials, presentations, quizzes, documentaries, experiential learning using detailed case studies, online discussions on the forum and working in groups. 

A total of five online interactive sessions and one two-hour webinar were planned to develop an in-depth understanding of the WSUDP approach and tools through interaction and exercises. The sessions were conducted by in-house experts and invited eminent speakers experienced in the same domain. 

Part 1: Context, Concept and Significance of WSUDP (3-11 August, 9 Days) of the online training started with a virtual Inaugural cum introductory session on the zoom platform on August 03, 2022 for setting the context of the training and to welcome all the participants. The virtual inaugural cum introductory session was addressed by Depinder Singh Kapoor, Director, Water Programme, CSE. The training coordinators briefed the participants on an overview of the training aim and objectives, participant's profile etc., and also gave a quick demonstration on how to use the Moodle platform.

 The first module of the training envisioned establishing the need for a water-sensitive design and how it differs from conventional water-management solutions in cities. This module also included an analysis of WSUDP on different intervention scales to execute site-level plans. As part of the first interactive session, Ar Somnath Sen, Retd. Associate Professor at IIT Kharagpur delivered a presentation on "Water Sensitive Urban Design and Planning: Approach, challenges and Potential for Indian cities". Ar. Sen described the issues; challenges in the cities and thereby explained the potential of WSUDP at a neighbourhood scale. He also stated the step-by-step implementation process of WSUDP and benefits at a city scale with the successful case examples in West Bengal (one of the main stem Ganga basin states). 

Ar Vandana Menon, an independent consultant, delivered the second interactive session on "Rainwater Harvesting in Neighbourhood Communities". Ms Menon showcased the successful example of the Nizamuddin society in Delhi and highlighted the role of community participation in the project's implementation. She also mentioned that the water table had increased over the years through CSE's RWH design and planning. 

Part 2: WSUDP Approaches and Management Framework (12 - 20 August, 9 days), introduced various WSUDP features: SUDS, GI, RWH, and Constructed Wetlands. This module gave the participants insight into O&M, stakeholder engagement strategies, and the economics of WSUDP features. The module also presented case studies in support of WSUDP principles and analysed the relevant tools and techniques. 

In the following interactive session, S. Vishwanath, Advisor, Biome Environmental Solutions, Bangalore, showcased an excellent example of rainwater harvesting at the individual scale of his house sans-souci that is self-sustainable, eco-friendly, eco-friendly, enhance biodiversity on site and reduces wastage to its bare minimum. 

The house Sans Souci is built with earth excavated from the site, harvests rainwater, reuses greywater, and has a composting toilet. Each session had a 20-25 mins presentation time followed by a Q&A round to interact with the participants and to resolve their queries on the topic.

The final day of the training (September 20, 2021) was reserved for an interactive session focusing on some basic exercises, quizzes, case examples and discussions on the WSUDP concept. The training was concluded with a detailed feedback session moderated by the training coordinators, CSE and with reflections on the learnings, future training programmes, way forward and action plans by the participants, followed by a vote of thanks. 

A webinar on the topic "Towards Water Sensitive Cities for Climate Resilience - Experience of Approach and Practices in India" as a part of the training programme was also organised on August 25, 2022, aimed at sensitising practitioners and advocating for the designing and planning of water-sensitive cities in India, and disseminating the experiences of water-sensitive cities and exemplar projects and programmes from India. The two-hour webinar had representation from eminent speakers in the sector and team CSE; Shri G MathiVathanan, Principal Secretary, HUDD, Government of Odisha, Ms Veena Srinivasan, Director and Senior Fellow, CSEI – ATREE, Dr Suresh Kumar Rohilla, Programme lead, IWA and Ms Shreya Krishnan, Director and Co-Founder, Sponge collaborative.

Academic Director

Depinder Singh Kapur
Director,
Water Programme, CSE
Email: dkapur@cseindia.org

Training Coordinator

Shivani
Senior Research Associate
Water Programme
Phone: +91-11-40616000 (Ext: 244)
Mobile: 8699770153
Email- shivani.y@cseindia.org