The Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, inaugurated the new water management and policy centre, AquaMAP, at IIT Madras and launched its website – https://aquamap.iitm.ac.in/ on March 19, 2022. Joining him at the launch were Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, Prof. Ligy Philip, Faculty Coordinator of AquaMAP, and Dr. P. Balasubramanian, CEO, Theme Work Analytics and Krishnan Narayanan, President, itihaasa Research and Digital, IIT Madras Alumni Association.

Providing a context in which AquaMAP has been established, Prof. VijayRaghavan said, “Our world faces the consequences of climate change and the pressure on biodiversity. Thus, renewing our air, water, and land and pressing sustainable development to become important.” Prof. Kamakoti added, “Water consumption in the agriculture sector is the maximum among all the needs, and therefore focus on improving the agricultural water use efficiency is one of the major focuses of AquaMAP.”

AquaMAP aims at providing solutions for complex and challenging water problems by designing and evolving smart and optimal water management practices and implementing them in the field, at different locations across the country, as a scalable model by leveraging best practices in management and innovative technologies. AquaMAP is a national water centre and IIT Madras is collaborating with IIT Dharwad around the broad theme of ‘Data Science for Water Security and Agriculture Sustenance’.

The key activities of AquaMAP include:

1. Field (in villages and towns) implementation of water technologies and management practices
2. Identify grand challenges in water/wastewater management for focused attention
3. Set up of a state-of-the-art Hydro-Informatics Laboratory

Prof. Ligy Philip, announcing the first three projects the Centre is supporting, said, “We have a multi-disciplinary faculty team, from Chemistry, Civil, Chemical, Humanities departments, supporting me at AquaMAP. We also have a fantastic set of water experts counseling us in our Governing and Advisory Board.”

1. Water and soil quality analysis: Creation of a digital twin of the Village for environmental management
2. Waste management for Clean and Healthy Village
3. Automatic Control of Rural Water Supply Schemes

Dr. Balasubramanian said, “Krishnan and I are thankful to IIT Madras for giving us an opportunity to give back to our alma mater and to the nation through AquaMAP. Through the unique Alumni – Engagement model, the centre will be able to tap into our alumni with expertise and interest in the water domain.”

Find the AquaMAP website at https://aquamap.iitm.ac.in/

List of Governing Board Members, Advisory Board Members: https://dev-aquamap.pantheonsite.io/management/

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DS