Five parks in Hyderabad are close to finishing a project that aims to conserve groundwater and tackle urban flooding issues. These parks include Kakatiya Park, KLN Yadav Park, Indira Park, GHMC Park in Sainikpuri, and Techno Park. Each park will have specific interventions for rainwater harvesting systems based on their unique topography.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the Shallow Aquifer Management (SAM) project under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0, in collaboration with the National Institute of Urban Affairs. ‘The Rainwater Project’ is overseeing the initiative in Hyderabad, with a scheduled completion date by the end of April. The project began last year with funding from MoHUA and additional funds from the State government.
Dr N Sunanda Rani, from the Urban Biodiversity Wing (UBD), highlighted the project’s goal of reducing urban flooding by increasing groundwater levels through water infiltration. The selected parks are in low-lying areas prone to waterlogging during the monsoon season. If successful, similar interventions may be extended to other parks in the city.
A shallow aquifer is an underground water-bearing layer close to the surface, typically within the first few hundred feet below ground level. Kalpana Ramesh, founder of The Rainwater Project, stressed the importance of managing shallow aquifers to prevent flooding and enhance recharge in parks and residential areas. At Indira Park, the team addressed a canal filled with silt to improve water infiltration during the monsoon by covering it with a net and renovating a well.
