Indian district of Chikkaballapur to benefit from water security strategies under climate-resilient initiative

The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) on Tuesday declared a USD 2.47 million fund to implement urban climate resilience projects across 16 cities in Bhutan, Brazil, Honduras, India, and Sri Lanka, targeting nearly 2.9 million people.

The funding, drawn from CDRI’s Infrastructure Resilience Accelerator Fund, will support five projects focused on integrated planning, innovation, and community engagement to build resilience against climate and disaster risks.

The coalition estimates the initiatives could unlock USD 161 million in infrastructure investments and deliver USD 91 million in operational savings, underlining the economic potential of climate-resilient planning.

In India, the focus is on risk-informed water security strategies in Karnataka’s Chikkaballapur district, expected to benefit around 300,000 people. Chikkaballapur, which lacks perennial water sources for both drinking and agriculture, is grappling with severe groundwater depletion, high borewell failure rates, and water pollution from untreated sewage. The CDRI project will focus on strengthening aquifer understanding and planning water security through a geology-informed approach in areas like Chintamani, which face compounding challenges from both groundwater scarcity and surface water contamination.

CDRI said the projects will serve as models for urban adaptation in climate-vulnerable regions, particularly in the Global South. The initiative aligns with broader global efforts to climate-proof infrastructure systems and support communities that are on the frontline of water stress, heatwaves, and flooding.

CDRI, a global coalition launched by India and endorsed by the UN, has been at the forefront of advocating infrastructure resilience as a central pillar of climate adaptation.