BUILDING URBAN FLOOD RESILIENCE THROUGH NATURE BASED SOLUTIONS IN WAZIRABAD, GURUGRAM

Abstract

The research aimed to explore the potential of Nature based Solutions (NbS) and provide suitable NbS interventions to mitigate urban floods in the study area, Wazirabad sub tehsil of Gurugram. Through a thorough meta-analysis to understand the existing urban flood scenario and the initiatives undertaken by the concerned stakeholders, a good understanding of the present condition of the study area is developed. With the help of an NGO called ‘Iamgurgaon’, a visit to all the initiatives undertaken by them and other stakeholders to mitigate urban floods and address other issues helped understand the ground reality and provided a deeper understanding of the present condition. To have the maximum impact of interventions, the location for implementation of interventions becomes vital. Thus, urban flood risk hotspots are identified in the entire study area by dividing the study area into 1km X 1km grid. Several parameters are identified which influence urban floods and their respective indicators are identified to quantify the parameters. Overlay analysis is performed on the plotted indicator maps after assigning them their respective weightages identified through multi criteria decision analysis using analytic hierarchy process to create the urban flood risk hotspot map of Wazirabad sub tehsil of Gurugram. A particular watershed is selected in the study area where all the interventions will be focused. Then, to check the effectiveness of a particular intervention to mitigate urban floods, gabion check dams are selected. Living lab experimentation is conducted in a scaled down controlled environment to check the effectiveness of gabion check dams in mitigating urban floods. All the interventions and strategies are further divided into four parts which are, interventions and strategies for streams, for golf course road, for Wazirabad lake and its surroundings & suggestions for existing and future development.