Launching Workshop of Indo-Netherlands Project Water for Change

Workshop of Indo-Netherlands Project Water for Change was Organised by Centre for Water and Sanitation (CWAS),CEPT Research and Development Foundation (CRDF). Funded by Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research (NWO).

Water as a basic necessity for life can both be an agent and a catalyst of positive change if managed in a context-sensitive and equitable way. To facilitate long-term sustainability, equality and resilience of urban water systems, a holistic, integrative and socio-ecological approach is required in governance, spatial planning, technology- infrastructure design and societal behaviours. By synergistically connecting 4 realms for the delivery of change, the water4change project will co-create and mainstream an integrative and applicable water sensitive design framework for livable fast-growing secondary cities in India. This project brings together 11 organizations 5 from India (Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IITR); CEPT University, Ahmedabad; Centre for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM), Calicut; Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal; and Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IITG)) and 6 from Netherlands (Delft University of Technology, Delft; Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), Rotterdam; University of Twente, Enschede; Stichting Deltares, Delft; Stichting IRC, The Hague; and Stichting IHE Delft, Institute for Water Education (IHE Delft), Delft) with the aim of achieving an integrated and fit-to-purpose water sensitive design framework for fast-growing liveable cities.

The core objective of the 5-year research project "Water4Change", is to provide communities, city, regional and national authorities, non-governmental organizations and operators an integrative, fit-for-purpose and context-sensitive water sensitive design framework for livable fast-growing secondary cities in India developed in a co-creative manner. Three cities representing arid, semi and coastal have been chosen as case cities, these include Bhuj, Bhopal and Kozhikode respectively.

As a kickoff activity city level workshops have been organized to engage with key stakeholders to co-create the study work plan. Through this city-level workshop and site visit at Bhuj, the team plans to understand the key water systems prevailing in the city and the actions taken so far by the key government, non-government and community stakeholders. The first day of the workshop, 6th January 2020 was planned at CEPT campus to share with the team, work that is done by CWAS and FP MUI Studio on Bhuj city over recent years. The following two days of site visit at Bhuj City was facilitated by local partner Arid Communities and Technology (ACT), Bhuj. The objective was to showcase through field visits and stakeholder consultations, the current situation of the city and the efforts so far related to the urban water systems (which includes 4 key sectors – Water, Waste Water/Sanitation, Solid Waste and Storm Water) carried out by state and local government, NGOs and communities.