IIT Madras alumnus donates Rs 5 crore to AquaMAP water management center

CHENNAI: IIT Madras has received a Rs 5 crore donation from distinguished alumnus Dr Parasuram Balasubramanian to establish a corpus fund for the AquaMAP – Centre for Water Management and Policy.

This contribution will support the centre’s continued growth and its mission to provide transformative water management solutions, in line with IIT Madras’ commitment to innovation for societal impact, according to IIT-M.

“AquaMAP, which began operations in 2022 with seed grants from Dr Balasubramanian and Krishnan Narayanan, has quickly gained recognition as a pioneering interdisciplinary centre. The initiative operates with support from the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India and collaborates with 26 faculty members across various IIT Madras departments,” a release issued by IIT-M read.

“The centre’s work spans critical water and wastewater management projects across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, including successful rural wastewater management in Muthur village, Karnataka. AquaMAP’s model has been adopted by the Karnataka government for expansion across 500 gram panchayats. Additionally, AquaMAP has guided Odisha’s Water Corporation on ensuring water quality for the state’s ambitious 24x7 ‘Drink from Tap’ initiative,” it said. Balasubramanian emphasised the importance of the endowment fund in elevating AquaMAP’s operations, stating that the centre’s work is key to India’s water security and resilience.

He also expressed confidence that AquaMAP’s growing impact would drive scalable solutions for water challenges across the nation.

“The centre’s collaborations with global organisations, such as Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, further expand its reach,” he noted.