Articles by Yugapriya Thiyagarajan

Yugapriya Thiyagarajan, pursuing her Master's in Environmental Economics at Madras School of Economics, is a sustainability enthusiast, creative writer, and public speaker. A former president of the Stella Maris Students’ Union, she has led student initiatives, judged city events, and runs a Spotify podcast while training in life skills and art.

When the northeast monsoon hits Chennai, a foreseeable result of the heavy downpour is severe flooding in several areas, including Porur Lake. As residents living near this 200-acre water body battle inundation every year, our team set out to investigate the root causes of flooding using available data. Environmental issues have often been dealt with a one-size-fits-all approach, but our study aimed to provide specific solutions tailored to the Porur catchment area. For this, we mapped inundation patterns, land gradient, land use change and the outlay of stormwater drains (SWDs).   At a recent datajam organised by the Oorvani Foundation…

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