Sundaresh Prasanna Chandran
ReportChennai-based software engineer building open-source civic technology. Sole maintainer of Neer Vazhvu, an open-source water intelligence platform cited in Indian media (DT Next, April 2026) for its integrated analysis of Chennai's water crisis.
Neer Vazhvu
Open-source water intelligence platform for Chennai. Integrates 20+ public data sources (reservoirs, groundwater, river water quality, flood risk, stormwater drains, sewerage, water bodies, satellite imagery) into ward-level decision support for all 200 wards and 11 million residents. Produces four computed intelligence layers unavailable elsewhere in India: daily composite water risk scores for every ward, restoration priority rankings for 1,787 water bodies, ward governance report cards (A-F grades across 5 metrics), and an interactive budget uplift planner that answers 'if I have X crore for my ward, where should I invest?'. Runs an automated daily pipeline on free/open infrastructure (Vercel, Supabase, Railway, Google Earth Engine). Featured in DT Next (April 2026) for platform-sourced findings on untreated sewage discharge and groundwater deficit. Fully documented methodology, MIT-licensed, designed for multi-city replication - a digital commons layer for urban water governance in India.
Dedicated maintainer time (12 months)
Fund 12 months of dedicated maintainer time, shifting from evenings-and-weekends to substantial part-time commitment. Deliverables: integrate 8 additional government data sources identified but not yet wired in, expand satellite water body monitoring from 150 to 500+ bodies, ship a public API with rate-limited free tier for researchers and journalists, and publish quarterly community updates documenting methodology and findings.
Second-city deployment (Bengaluru)
Fund data source research, scraper development, boundary and water-body localisation, and local validation for a Bengaluru deployment. Bengaluru is selected for its severe ongoing water crisis, active civic-tech community, and recent $426M World Bank water project. Deployment will prove the framework's replicability and produce a template for further Indian cities. Separable from dedicated development above - useful as a co-funded component with other funders.
Infrastructure sustenance
Ongoing running costs currently covered out-of-pocket: AI API calls for city and ward narratives, domain renewal, and cloud infrastructure when traffic exceeds free tiers (Vercel, Supabase, Railway, Google Earth Engine compute). Small but continuous need; suitable for GitHub Sponsors.
| Year | Income | Expenses | Taxes | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 0 USD | 100 USD | 0 USD | Self-funded to date. All infrastructure costs absorbed by maintainer. No grants or institutional funding received yet. |