The Urban Ecology Small Grants Program supports organizations working on urban ecology challenges in cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune each year. We collaborate with capable and committed individuals and teams to help them implement on-ground community initiatives in water management in urban areas.
Over the past few years, we have tried to incorporate groundwater science-based decisions and tools in conservation, while keeping communities at the heart of knowledge sharing and facilitation. Our knowledge partners BIOME Environmental Solutions and ACWADAM help facilitate community interventions on water.
The following are some of the projects we have supported over the past few years:
Bangalore
- Puttenahalli Puttakere Lake (J.P. Nagar): Construction of a dual-stage wetland;
- Yelahanka Puttenahalli Lake: Biodiversity and water quality assessments involving the community;
- Voice of Sarjapura: Community-led conservation of lakes and public commons in the Sarjapur area;
- Doddanekundi Extension Park: Implementation and management of treated water system for use at the park from neighboring apartments;
- Implementation of biodiversity plan in Jogikere, Sarakki kere, and Chunchughatta lake;
- Water Institute at Bangalore University for creating a groundwater model and scenario planning for the city and engaging with students in higher education institutions. For more information, please visit: http://bengaluru.urbanwaters.in
Pune
- Mobilizing community and government action on groundwater conservation.
Chennai
- Selaiyur Lake (Eco society): To enable people to understand the risk of denigration of water quality and to understand the ecosystem function of the lake for their wellbeing.
- Construction of Recharge wells (Rain Center): Select 40 locations in Chennai that are prone to stagnation or excessive runoff and construct public recharge wells
- People’s Eco-corridor along the Buckingham Canal, Chennai (Urban Circle): Addressing in-situ wastewater pollutants from low-income settlements. The secretariat of the Chennai program is Care Earth Trust. For more information, please visit https://careearthtrust.org/.
We are accepting applications on a continuous basis for all cities, though evaluation may be done every 3 to 4 months.