Hotspot Identification for Urban Flooding in a Satellite Town of National Capital Region of India

Abstract

The rapid urbanization and population explosion have become major issues all around the world. Several satellite towns are developed to accommodate the ever-increasing population of metropolitan cities around the world. Gurugram, a prominent satellite city in the national capital region (NCR) of India is one such city which has faced the problems of urbanization. Urbanization, besides having adverse impacts on hydro-climatic conditions, has led to a rapid increase in the impervious area. This seals the upper soil layers and thus generates excessive surface runoff causing urban floods. The problem of flooding has impacted the public health and the society as well as resulted in economic loss. Keeping this in mind, the present study makes an attempt to identify the hotspots in the city of Gurugram from the urban flooding point of view. The hotspots are identified through the rainfall-runoff modelling using the storm water management model (SWMM) developed by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In order to initiate actions for its management, the prioritization of the potential hotspots is suggested through the multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) technique of choosing by disadvantage (CBD). Further, it has been noticed that the urban drainage problem gets aggravated due to silting and choking of the Najafgarh and Badshahpur drains which ultimately joins the river Yamuna in northern part of Delhi.