Training Programme on Water Sensitive Urban Design and Planning

Date: 30^th May- 1^st June, 2018

Venue: Durban, South Africa

Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), India in collaboration with Water Research Commission (WRC), South Africa and Water Research Unit, University of Cape Town (UCT) conducted a three day international training programme on “Water Sensitive Urban Design and Planning (WSUDP)” from 30^th May- 1^st June, 2018.

The 3 day training programme included a mix of theory, practical sessions and it was conducted based on state of the art teaching – learning tools consisting of interactive sessions, experiential learning using detailed case studies, working in groups on planning and designing and class room lectures. 

The programme included diverse group of around 30 participants representing different organisations including representatives from NGOs, private companies, universities, entrepreneurs etc. Around 40 percent of the participants were engineers from government departments working in municipalities in water and sanitation services.

List of participants (click here)

Day 1 of the programme started with introduction session byrepresentatives from Water Research Commission, South Africa (Mr. Jayant BhagwanExecutive Manager, Water Use and Wastewater Management) and Centre for Science and Environment (Mr. Rudresh Kumar Sugam, Senior Programme Manager, Water Management Unit, CSE) who spoke about CSE-WRC and UCT partnership and work in South Africa. Mr Sugamalso gave an overview of the training and set the context for implementing WSUDPto achieve sustainability in water management and flood mitigation. 

Dr. Kirsty Carden (Research Coordinator, Future water research institute Urban Water Management Research Unit, UCT) exposed the participants to the issues and challenges in managing water resources in urban areas and discussed solutions of managing storm water at source, local and regional scale. The session focused around the concepts of WSUDP for velocity reduction, peak flow attenuation and urban runoff quality improvement, in order to move away from typical victorial drainage design.Subsequently, Ms. Shivali Jainer (Deputy Programme Manager, CSE) and Ms. Chhavi Sharda (Deputy Programme Manager, CSE) took sessions that shifted the training focus on WSUDP at different scales: Storm water managementand recycle/reuse of treated wastewater through decentralised as part of a water sensitive design. 

Day 2 started with sessions showcasing case examples of best management practices of various aspects of WSUDP through documentaries. The sessions focused on planning, designing and implementation strategies for sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS), Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) and Decentralised waste water treatment systems (DWWTs).

The day ended with a field visit to Ethekwini Municipality. Two major sites of Ethekwini Municipality were showcased by Mr. Geoff Tooley (Senior Manager: Catchment Management at eThekwini Municipalityto participants). Site 1 was at Izinga Ridge which is a housing colony where one of the green areas in the colony is being developed to attenuate storm water flow adopting SUDS approach. While site 2 was located near electronic factory where the green areas around the canal are used to regulate runoff from nearby catchment areas of factories before it enters the canal.Both the sites have integrated WSUDP practices as source control measure along with creating and maintaining biodiversity to improve micro-climatic conditions of the area.

On day 3 the participants received hands-on experience in designing water sensitive areas (including concepts of SUDS, RWH and reuse through DWWT) and gained better understanding aboutthe need for decentralised approach. Each day a feedback session was organized at the end of the day to understand the participant’s satisfaction and demand. An overall feedback was also taken for assessing necessary improvements in the training programme.

For further information please contact:

Dr. Suresh Kumar Rohilla
CSE, New Delhi, India
Email: srohilla@cseindia.org

 

Local host and partner:

Mr. Jay Bhagwan
Water Research Commission, South Africa
Email: jayb@wrc.org.za