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Biome Environmental Trust
264, 6th Main, 6th Block, BEL Layout, Vidyaranyapura
Bangalore, Karnataka, 560097
India

A Kodavasal

STP entrepreneur

Dr Ananth S Kodavasal holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering from Vanderbilt University. He is the Founder - Director of Ecotech Engineering Consultancy that sets up sewage treatment plants in the city. He has also published research papers on wastewater treatment.

Annapurna K

Lake activist

Dr Annapurna Kamath is a PhD in Mathematics and Computer Science. After spending many years working and teaching in the technology sector, she set up the Satya Foundation, a charitable trust working on holistic community development, and Shishulok, a child resource and learning centre. She is Director of the Satya Group, which is engaged in hospitality, farming, design and interior projects. She is the Trustee of Jalaposhan, a citizens' lake conservation group that has been engaged in the rejuvenation of the Jakkur Lake in North Bengaluru.

Garima B

Wildlife conservation educator

Garima Bhatia is Project Manager, Education and Public Engagement at Nature Conservation Foundation. She is a chemical engineer by training and a nature lover by passion. When and how the passion overtook the training is difficult to say, but after working for ten years in the automotive industry trying to control emissions from diesel vehicles, she decided to shift gears and fully indulge her multiple interests, of which birdwatching and travel are at the top of the list. She is also a bird photographer and occasional writer, and volunteer for various social/environmental causes in the community where she lives. She joined NCF in June 2014 to work on a programme to create educational resources to interest children in birds and birdwatching. She feels the next generation will be faced with unprecedented environmental challenges when they grow up, and an early connection with nature will go a long way towards making them responsible custodians of our future planet.

Harish B

Social activist

Mr. Harish Babu is a post graduate in Sociology and has been involved in development sector for two decades. His exposure to World Bank aided project on drinking water ad rural sanitation implemented by Karnataka Rural Water Supply and Sanitation agency has helped him in specialising water supply, sanitation, rainwater harvesting, water quality testing and ecological sanitation. He is well versed in community mobilization, PRA tools, advocacy, lobbying and networking. Based on his competence and expertise, he has chosen as one of the third party evaluator for Nirmal Gram Purskar and Nirmalya Rathna Puraskar in Karnataka. He holds the position of General Secretary as well as Associate Director of the organization has the overall responsibility of water and sanitation related programs of MSSS.

Himanshu K

Water resources professsional

Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni, Founder Trustee and Executive Director, ACWADAM, is attempting to create space, both in practice and policy, on the importance of the science of groundwater. He believes that aquifer-based participatory groundwater management can imbibe the principles of “commons” in both practice and policy. He is actively involved in the advocacy of stronger programmes on groundwater management in India, through his inputs as Chairman, Working Group on Sustainable Groundwater Management for India’s 12th Five Year Plan. His work on the occurrence and movement of groundwater in the hard-rock regions of India is known in academic and research circles. He is currently working on groundwater management in different hydrogeological typologies in India - the Himalayas, Indo-Gangetic alluvial systems, the crystalline aquifers of Peninsular India, the Deccan Volcanic groundwater systems and the Sedimentary aquifer formation in different regions of India.

Mohan K

Professor of Water Resources Engineering

Prof. M. S. Mohan Kumar Secretary, KSCST and Professor, Department of Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (retd) Ph. D from IISc., Bangalore in Water Resources Engineering Guided many Ph.Ds / Masters’ students Published many papers in International journals Completed many international/ national research/ consultancy projects INSA – JSPS Fellow Alexander Von-Humboldt Fellow Visiting Professor, ILT, Soga University, Japan Visiting Professor, Olivet University, The Netherlands Research interests in Ground water, Unsaturated flows, Surface and ground water quality, Flow simulation in canal networks, Multiphase flow in porous media, Water quality in water distribution systems Chairman, Indo-French Cell for Water Sciences Professor of Water Resources Engineering at IISc., Dept. of Civil Engineering (retd) Hon. Secretary, Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST)

Mohan R

Plumbing contractor

Mohan Reddy is a plumbing contractor who has been doing rainwater harvesting - specific plumbing work for several years.

Priyanka J

Water pollution expert

Dr. Priyanka Jamwal Fellow, Centre for Environment and Development priyanka.jamwal@atree.org I am interested in solving the problem of water pollution, including point and non-point source pollution, biological and industrial contamination, and surface and ground water. I am also interested in determining pollution abatement through wastewater treatment and contamination/decontamination approaches in water distribution network. My work involves field sampling, laboratory simulations and modelling approaches. I am also in charge of the Water and Soil Laboratory at ATREE. Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Priyanka_Jamwal Programme: Water, Land & Society Students: Ruchi Verma, Sumita Bhattacharyya Attach profile docs: PDF icon Jamwalp_CV_2018.pdf

Ravindra P N

Dr PN Ravindra retired as Chief Engineer at the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). He is Head of the Water Cell at Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB). He is currently writing a book on the history of Bangalore's water supply.

Shalini S

Lake activist

Shalini Susheel is a Trustee on the board of MAPSAS Trust, managing 5 lakes in the Bellandur ward in Bengaluru. She has been the Chairperson of Devara Beesana Halli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust, leading the rejuvenation of Devara Beesana Halli Lake, from 2014-2020. It is a local chapter of Friends of Lakes, with 60+ citizen members. She works on groundwater conservation at her residential community which a large gated community of villas and apartment buildings in SE Bengaluru.

Shankar S

Shankar is a traditional well digger from the Bhovi or Mannu Vaddar community. He has learnt the art of digging wells from his father and grandfather.

Shubha A

Hydrology professional

Dr Shubha Avinash holds a PhD in Urban Hydrology. She currently works at Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) as Scientific Officer. Shubha does research in water resources using GIS and remote sensing technology. Their current project is 'Urban flood Model for Bangalore City'.

Shubha R

Water conservationist

Shubha holds a B.E. Civil from IIT Mumbai and has been at Biome since 2008. She is the Manager of Water Projects at Biome Environmental Solutions, and a Water Sustainability Consultant at Biome Environmental Trust. Shubha has worked as Senior Technical Architect, Project Manager and Systems Analyst at Infosys for 11 years. She has designed and implemented several rainwater harvesting and wastewater treatment systems primarily in and around the city of Bangalore. She is a classical singer of Carnatic music and performs on festive occasions.

Srinivasan S

Water activist

Srinivasan Sekar is a resident of TZED Homes, an apartment community in Bengaluru that has installed a closed-loop wastewater treatment system, in which the wastewater is treated by reverse osmosis to potable quality, and is used for all uses by the residents.

Veena S

Water resources professional

Dr. Veena Srinivasan veena.srinivasan@atree.org Veena Srinivasan is a Fellow at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore, where she leads the Water, Land and Society Programme and the Centre for Social and Environmental Innovation. Veena’s research interests include inter-sectoral water allocation, impacts of multiple stressors on water resources, ground and surface water linkages, and sustainable water management policy and practice. Veena’s recent research has focused on understanding anthropogenic and climatic influences in urbanizing watersheds and identifying appropriate policies and adaptation measures. More recently, she has initiated work on Bangalore's lakes with the goal of understanding how lakes can contribute to water security as well as creating a citizen's dashboard which synthesizes data from low-cost sensors and data collected by citizen scientists to help manage lakes better.

Vijayraj S

RWH entrepreneur

Vijayraj Shisodya is the co-founder of Farmland Rainwater Harvesting Systems, that installs injection wells for rainwater harvesting and flood mitigation.

Vikas B

STP entrepreneur

Vikas Brahmavar is the Founding Director at TransWater System Pvt. Ltd, having years of experience in Water Treatment. He was previously associated with Aqua Purification systems, and proprietor at Blorebuy. His area of expertise is in design of Water Conditioner systems. He has worked for about 5 years in London prior to starting a passion venture in Bangalore.

Vishwanath S

Water conservationist

Vishwanath S is the founder of Rainwater Club (www.rainwaterclub.org), Director of Biome Environmental Solutions (https://www.biome-solutions.com), Trustee of Biome Environmental Trust (http://biometrust.org). He is also an Ex-Secretary General: International Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (www.ircsa.org). A member of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance, he also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Azim Premji University. He has been a columnist at the Hindu since May 2007 (Waterwise - Property Plus - Saturday)

Vivek S

Water entrepreneur

Vivek Shukla is Founder and CEO of SmarterHomes Technologies Pvt. Ltd. SmarterHomes is a response to a real-world problem of lack of water metering in apartment buildings. There are more than 50 million apartment buildings all over the world in need of a water metering solution. Research has proven that we cannot control or change our behaviour without measurement. Our customers have consistently been able to reduce their consumption and water costs by over 35%, bring 100% fairness in their apartments. And also take pride in ensuring water availability for the next generation.