Ahmedabad (Gujarat) : Magsaysay Award winner Dr Rajendra Singh, who is popularly known as the Waterman of India, has inducted Ahmedabad-based water professional Tejas Joshi into the advisory committee of the People’s World Commission on Drought and Flood (PWCDF).
Tejas Joshi, Founder and Managing Director of Ahmedabad-based design consultancy firm SPACE ELEMENTS, is inducted into the technical advisory committee of PWDCF at the World Water Conclave 2022, and held at Udaipur from December 8 to 10. It brought together academia, science, technology, traditional wisdom, civil society, community-led experience from diverse ecologies, and streams of knowledge to share, deliberate and co-create a path for drought and flood mitigation, adaptation, and resilience.
“It is indeed my honour and privilege to be included in the technical advisory committee of People’s World Commission on Drought and Flood by none other than Waterman Dr. Rajendra Singh. Dr. Singh has devoted his life and efforts to reducing the risks to lives, livelihoods, and ecosystems by building community resilience to extreme weather events such as droughts and floods through community-driven nature rejuvenation. We look forward to supporting his efforts and contributing to the critical tasks that lay ahead,” Tejas Joshi said.
Mr. Joshi was the only one from Gujarat who was invited to the World Water Conclave. He also had the opportunity to present a case study before a large gathering of water professionals, experts, academicians, and NGOs. The case study was about SPACE ELEMENTS’ initiative to mitigate draught and manage flood by designing the smart rainwater harvesting structures, which deals with scientific and technical study for an integrated water resource planning and design service.
“Dr. Singh is working to revive the Indian rivers, but it is a project that may take a very long time. We have proposed to offer our services, where we study the hydrology of the land to assess surface water for effectively enhancing groundwater reserves by flood analysis to compete the hydraulic circle while balancing the water element on the earth, where we collect information using space technologies. The confluence of traditional methods and new technologies can help in reducing the project timelines by a long way. This is critical considering the worsening water crises the world is experiencing. Dr. Singh liked by proposal and scientific approach and has assured to take it ahead when we meet next,” said Mr. Joshi.
PWCDF was established during World Water Week in Stockholm in September 2022 under the chairmanship of Dr Singh. It hopes to bridge the gaps between research, knowledge, policy, and community action by bringing together communities, scientists, engineers, technocrats, environmentalists, ecologists, social activists, hydrologists, youth, and other stakeholders to reduce the impact of droughts and floods and build resilience at ground level.
