As heavy rains lashed Pune this week a small group of volunteers armed with nothing more than their smartphones set out along the Mula-Mutha river. Their mission: to capture photos and videos that will help map how the city’s rivers respond to sudden downpours.
The initiative called Nadimitra Water Level, is part of a larger citizen-science movement to monitor rivers in real time. Participants use EpiCollect5, an app developed at Oxford University, to upload images and location-tagged data. This crowdsourced information is then analysed against previous measurements to estimate water levels without the need for expensive equipment.
“Volunteers don’t measure water directly,” explains retired engineer Prashant Shevgaonkar, one of the organisers. “We rely on steps at ghats or the pixel count in photographs to calculate how high the water has risen.”
At present, around 10–15 citizens are contributing observations at key sites including Ambedkar Bridge, Harris Bridge and Bund Garden Bridge. Even though recent water discharges were moderate, researchers believe the records will provide valuable insight into how the rivers behave during intense rain.
Beyond data collection the project has a broader aim: to make citizens “friends of the rivers.” According to Prajakta Mahajan from Pune River Revival, Nadimitra hopes to eventually expand across India, encouraging people in river cities to engage with local water bodies.
The organisers have also flagged bigger concerns such as the “levee effect” when embankments designed to protect low-lying areas instead encourage risky development in flood-prone zones. Densely populated areas like Sangamwadi remain especially vulnerable to this paradox.
Since its launch in July, Nadimitra has been in an experimental stage, but its early success shows how simple citizen participation can strengthen urban flood preparedness. With monsoon rains set to continue, Pune’s rivers may soon find new guardians in the very residents who live along their banks.