IIT Delhi launches ‘IITD Aab Prahari’ app to solve waterlogging issues in urban areas

NEW DELHI: ‘Water Hub Project’ started by the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) launched a mobile application named “IITD Aab Prahari” to address waterlogging issues in urban areas during the monsoon.

In ‘IITD Aab Prahari’ mobile application system, communities and individuals are facilitated to report the real-time incidence of flooding, in and around their surroundings, by capturing the waterlogging information and uploading it to a central server. The app is available on Google Play and very soon will be available on iOS app store also, the IIT Delhi said.

Explaining how the mobile application works, the institute said, “The information fed by the citizens will help the researchers at the Water Security Hub in the effective development and deployment of an early warning system to predict the urban floods through validation of their model. The aim is to help the local administration so that it can take any quick action to mitigate the flooding situation.”

IIT Delhi will deploy the app for the NCT of Delhi for now. However, the app is generic enough to be used in other geographic settings, it added.

AK Gosain, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Delhi, and the lead researcher for the UKRI GCRF Project, said, “IITD Aab Prahari mobile application uses the citizen science approach. This mobile app could change the way communities and governments deal with floods”.

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A website named “Jalsuraksha”, jalsuraksha.iitd.ac.in/, was also launched on the occasion. The website serves as a single platform with all the information related to the research work undertaken by the Water Security Hub team at IIT Delhi to ensure water security in the NCT of Delhi.

The website interactively showcases IITD-Toolboxes and research products through GIS based frameworks for Decision Support Systems. These frameworks address technical, environmental, and social issues and support policymaking.

IITD Aab Prahari

IIT Delhi director Rangan Banerjee, Ashish Kundra, IAS, principal secretary, Department of Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC), Delhi Government and other senior officials were present on the occasion.

In 2019, the international collaboration between the IIT Delhi’s FITT and the UKRI started a project named ‘Water Security Hub’ in the Department of Civil Engineering to develop new approaches to tackle the challenges and barriers to water security and sustainable development in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. The project is funded by the UKRI through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).