K V Santhosh Ragavan

Adjunct Faculty

School of Systems & Infrastructure

santhosh dot ragavan at iihs dot ac dot in

K V Santhosh Ragavan is an environmental health and engineering professional with 25 years of diverse experience. His expertise encompasses water, sanitation, air pollution, health, energy, and cross-cutting domains such as institutional development, systems strengthening, infrastructure, and governance. Recognising the complexity and the challenges of human settlements, Santhosh worked across interdisciplinary areas and teams.

Santhosh’s current practice and teaching are focused on water and sanitation in urban settlements, with growing engagement with rural contexts. He currently leads the IIHS-led Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP) and is spearheading the conceptualisation of a Water Transformation Initiative for both urban and rural India.

He works with government and non-government stakeholders to advance water, sanitation, and environmental service goals across states, cities, and rural communities by undertaking diagnostics, developing improvement strategies, and supporting planning and implementation. He has played a key role in designing and executing concepts, programmes, projects, and investment plans. Drawing from both practice and theory, he also develops knowledge products and delivers teaching and capacity development programmes across thematic areas.

Santhosh’s work is closely aligned with the University’s mission to enable the sustainable and inclusive transformation of human settlements

Thematic areas

Air Pollution, Built Environment, Energy, Governance, Health, Sustainability Science, Systems and Infrastructure, Water and Sanitation

Education

2008 – MS, Environmental Health, Cyprus International Institute, Harvard School of Public Health, Nicosia, Cyprus
1998 – BE, Environmental Engineering, S J College of Engineering, University of Mysore, Mysuru, India

Eswaramurthy, S., Senthil, K. G., Govindaraj, Mohan, P., & Ragavan, S. (2023, Dec 11–14). FSSM monitoring and decision making through IT and IoTs [Paper presentation]. IWA Water and Development Congress & Exhibition, University of Rwanda, Kigali.
Jeevanraj, Ragavan, S. K. V., Senthil Kumar, G., & Yohananthan, S. (2023, October 4–7). Mitigating flooding impacts on community toilets using retrofits: Ensuring access to safe and sustainable sanitation. WSCA Conference 2023, IIT, Madras, Chennai.
Nagarajan, A., Ragavan, S. K. V., Barai, S., Nepak, S., Eswaramurthy, S., Subashini, M., & Sakthi, B. (2023, October). Demonstrating best practices for operations and maintenance of community and public toilets in Chennai [Poster presentation]. 2023 UNC Water and Health Conference at UNC, Chapel Hill, NC.
Govindaraj, S., Ragavan, S., Senthivel, K. R., & Athira, S. (2023, February 19–23). Tracking de-sludging vehicles through axle load sensor [Paper presentation]. 7th International Faecal Sludge Management Conference, FSM7, Rotterdam.
Yaseen, S. M., Vijendra, M., Sudhakar, S., Eswaramurthy, S., Kumar, S. K., Sakthi, B., Mohan, P., Raj, S., Ahmed, F., Jeevanraj, S., Athira, S., Ragavan, S., & Wankhade, K. (2023). Governance mechanisms for shared FSM services: Intricacies of implementation across local bodies in Tamil Nadu, India [Paper presentation]. 7th International Faecal Sludge Management Conference, FSM7, Rotterdam
Govindaraj, S., K., Sukumar, Y., Senthilvel, K. R., Jeevanraj., & Ragavan, S. (2022). Improvement of household-scale disinfection of onsite sanitation systems using chlorine tablet. The UNC Water and Health Conference at UNC, Chapel Hill, NC.
Kumar, S. G., Narayan, D., Ragavan, S., & Wankhade, K. (2021). Approach to scale-up co-treatment of fecal sludge in STPs- case study from Tamil Nadu, India. 42nd WEDC international conference: Equitable and sustainable WASH services: Future challenges in a rapidly changing world. WEDC. https://hdl.handle.net/2134/16832203.v1
Wankhade, K., Ragavan, S., & Vijendra, M. (2021). Sanitation programme design and set-up to scale FSM in Tamil Nadu. 42nd WEDC international conference: Equitable and sustainable WASH services: Future challenges in a rapidly changing world. WEDC. https://hdl.handle.net/2134/16866460.v1
Eswaramoorthy, S., Ragavan, S., & Narayan, D. (2021). Fecal sludge treatment plants implementation: Quality assurance at scale in Tamil Nadu, India. 42nd WEDC international conference: Equitable and sustainable WASH services: Future challenges in a rapidly changing world. WEDC. https://hdl.handle.net/2134/16974898.v1
Kumar, S. G., Raj, S. J., Narayan, D., Yohananthan, S., & Ragavan, S. (2021). Challenges to co-treatment caused by excess grit in faecal sludge. 42nd WEDC international conference: Equitable and sustainable WASH services: Future challenges in a rapidly changing world. WEDC. https://hdl.handle.net/2134/16974163.v1
Kumar, S. G., Ragavan, S., Yohananthan, S., & Narayan, D. (2021). Identification of location of decanting station for co-treatment: Learnings based on experiences from Trichy. 42nd WEDC international conference: Equitable and sustainable WASH services: Future challenges in a rapidly changing world. WEDC. https://hdl.handle.net/2134/16974142.v1
Weyant, C., Athalye, V., Ragavan, S., Rajarathnam, U., Kr, B., Lalchandani, D., … & Bond, T. C. (2012, December). Aerosol radiative forcing estimates from South Asian clay brick production based on direct emission measurements. AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2012, pp. A51B-0038).

Grafton, Q., Gupta, J., Revi, A., Mazzucato, M., Okonjo-Iewala, N., Rockström, J., Shanmugaratnam, T., Aki-Sawyerr, Y., Bárcena Ibarra, A., Cantrell, L., Espinosa, M. F., Ghosh, A., Ishii, N., Jintiach, J. C., Qui, B., Ramphele, M., Urrego, M. R., Serageldin, I., Damania, R., … Réalé, I. (2023). The what, why and how of the world water crisis: Global Commission on the Economics of Water Phase 1 review and findings. https://doi.org/10.25911/GC7J-QM22
TNUSSP. (2022). Assessment of community and public toilets in Chennai. TNUSSP.
TNUSSP. (2022). Detailed commissioning and operation & maintenance (O&M) manual for fecal sludge treatment plants in Tamil Nadu. TNUSSP.
TNUSSP. (2020). Quality assurance support for implementation of fecal sludge treatment plants in Tamil Nadu. TNUSSP. https://tnussp.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/QA-Support-for-Implementation-of-FSTPs-in-TN-17-nov-2022.pdf.
TNUSSP. (2018). Sanitation situation assessment: Tiruchirappalli. TNUSSP. https://doi.org/10.24943/tnusspssa.20181204
TNUSSP. (2018). Assessment of fecal sludge decanting stations in Tiruchirappalli. TNUSSP.
TNUSSP. (2018). Suitability of on-site sanitation systems across Tamil Nadu. TNUSSP. https://doi.org/10.24943/tnusspsos.20180201
TNUSSP. (2017). Tamil Nadu state baseline study: Technical assessment of sanitation chain. TNUSSP. https://doi.org/10.24943/tnussptsbs.20170101
TNUSSP. (2017). Sewage and fecal sludge treatment in Tiruchirappalli: Current status, proposed plans and recommendations for improvement. TNUSSP. https://doi.org/10.24943/tnusspsfst.20171201
TNUSSP. (2016). Baseline studies for urban sanitation: Tiruchirapalli, Periyanaicken-Palayam, Narasimhanaicken-Palayam. Indian Institute for Human Settlements. https://doi.org/10.24943/tnussptpn.20161201
TNUSSP (2016). Municipal building rules: Suggested changes. TNUSSP. https://doi.org/10.24943/tnusspmbr.20160501
Rajarathnam, U., Sehgal, M., Nairy, S., Patnayak, R. C., Chhabra, S. K., Kilnani, Ragavan, K. V., & HEI Health Review Committee (2011). Part 2. Time-series study on air pollution and mortality in Delhi. Research report (Health Effects Institute), (157), 47–74.

Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) (2022–2024)
Improving sanitation facilities in Chennai (2022–2023)
City-Wide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) (2018–2024)
Tamil Nadu Urban Sanitation Support Programme (TNUSSP) (2015–present)
Sanitation assessment of slums in Chennai

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