Sahana Goswami

Senior Program Manager - Water Resilience

Bio

Sahana is a Senior Program Manager with Water Resilience practice at WRI India. In her current role, she leads action research on water resilience with a focus on natural infrastructure and blue-green solutions, alongside reuse and resource recovery from urban wastewater streams. Earlier, she has also worked on transit-oriented development and provision of safe access to transit station areas across urban centers in India.

Sahana’s prior academic writing experience includes development of factsheets on water resources planning for the south-east Wisconsin region and journal papers on equity planning in economic development schemes of local governments in the U.S. She has also worked as an architect and urban planner in a private architecture and design firm.

Sahana holds a master's in Urban Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, U.S. and a bachelor’s in Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture, JNTU, Hyderabad, India.

Sahana is an avid walker and loves to discover the cities she visits on foot. Her other interests include writing about her travels and art journaling.

Blogs

How Water Challenges Threaten India’s Energy Security
by Daniel Gajardo, Samantha Kuzma, Sahana Goswami and Anupriya Goyal - August 27, 2021
This blog first appeared on WRI Insights on August 26, 2021.

The start of the 2021 monsoon season was a promising time for India’s farmers and water users. Heavy rains in June and the beginning of July filled the country’s reservoirs in states like
Living Near Urban Landfills in India
by Sahana Goswami and Samrat Basak - May 27, 2021
Every Indian city has at least one man-made mountain where ‘waste’ generated in our homes and businesses end up. About 90% of the staggering 150,000 metric ton of urban solid wastes generated everyday make their way to such locations. Called dump yards,
Living with water: integrating blue, green and grey infrastructure to manage urban floods
by Sahana Goswami and Ashwathy Anand - September 03, 2020
This is second in the ongoing series of blogs on Urban India Going Underwater. Read the first blog here.

Rampant urbanization and climate change are twin triggers causing severe and frequent urban flooding across India. Traditional grey stormwater infrastructure such as gutters, storm
Is urban India going underwater again?
by Sahana Goswami and Samrat Basak - August 05, 2020
India is in the middle of the 2020 monsoon season and the Indian Meteorological Department has forecast a normal monsoon. But regional rainfall variations have already flooded
Water concerns, India and COVID-19: the lesser-known battle
by Sahana Goswami and Samrat Basak - March 26, 2020
The global spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) highlights the intensity of global interconnections, and social and economic interdependence between regions. The pandemic has reinforced the critical need for access to safe and assured water supply for all, as described in the
Urban Blues and Prudence: 5 Things to Consider prior to Restoration and Conservation Efforts
by Sahana Goswami and Samrat Basak - March 19, 2020
Since time immemorial, Indian cities have come up either on riverbanks or near surface waterbodies or over groundwater reservoirs, making the presence of water a founding feature of settlements. Historically, waterbodies played a vital role in defining the cultural heritage of a city. They provided public spaces for recreation, gatherings and religious activities, as well as a range of
Social Cost Accounting for Urban Service Provision
by Sahana Goswami - December 17, 2018
As one of the fastest growing countries, urbanisation has emerged as an opportunity and a challenge for India with huge implications for the rest of the world. Between 2001 and 2015, the number of cities in India with a population of a million or more increased from 35 to 53. In 2015, India’s urban population reached 420 million – 33 per cent of the total population. This number is expected to
Enabling sustainable built environments using innovative water-sensitive design
by Sahana Goswami - October 31, 2018
India is urbanising at a rapid pace and there is extensive and increasing demand for services like housing, water, sanitation, energy, and mobility. Recent reports on the state of
Kerala Flooding: Natural Calamity or Manmade Disaster?
by Samrat Basak, Sahana Goswami and Raj Bhagat Palanichamy - September 03, 2018
As India prepared to commemorate its 72nd Independence Day, the southern state of Kerala saw little reason to celebrate. The monsoon rainfall this year was heavier than normal and had reached alarming levels. On an average, districts received 30 percent excess rainfall, with some districts recording between
Lessons from Devanahalli on Urban Faecal Sludge Management
by Sahana Goswami and Kristina Egge - January 22, 2018
Devanahalli, a small municipality outside Bangalore with a population of 30,000 people, has successfully set up a faecal sludge treatment plant (FSTP) to provide end-to-end solutions for faecal sludge management (FSM). The Devanahalli Town Municipal Council (TMC) partnered with the Bangalore-based not-for-profit Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination (CDD) Society and the German NGO Bremen

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Sahana Goswami

How Water Challenges Threaten India’s Energy Security

Living Near Urban Landfills in India

Living with water: integrating blue, green and grey infrastructure to manage urban floods

Is urban India going underwater again?

Water concerns, India and COVID-19: the lesser-known battle

Urban Blues and Prudence: 5 Things to Consider prior to Restoration and Conservation Efforts

Social Cost Accounting for Urban Service Provision

Enabling sustainable built environments using innovative water-sensitive design

Kerala Flooding: Natural Calamity or Manmade Disaster?

Lessons from Devanahalli on Urban Faecal Sludge Management

Urban Blue-Green Conundrum: A 10-city Study on the Impacts of Urbanization on Natural Infrastructure in India

Towards Smarter Service Provision for Smart Cities

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