Keeping wetlands healthy is crucial for the availability of clean water, food, and sustainability of livelihood. Apart from pollution caused by the discharge of untreated water, encroachment leading to shrinkage of wetland areas has pressed the alarm bell on the gradual loss of these vital ecosystem services critical for human and environmental well-being. Wetlands along the floodplains of the Brahmaputra play the most crucial role in keeping the water of the mighty river clean, simulating the functions of kidneys in the human body. The central government clearing a Rs 692 crore project for the restoration and rejuvenation of 24 wetlands of the Brahmaputra River system spreading across nine districts in Assam is a laudable decision. The implementation of this project, as stated by the central government, will enhance wetland capacity, create flood storage, increase flood resilience, protect the aquatic environment and help in economic growth through improved fisheries infrastructure. The wetlands play another important role as absorbers of stormwater to regulate the flood level in the Brahmaputra, and conserving this vital function of buffering floodwater is essential for moderation of annual floods in the Brahmaputra valley. A wetland traps silts, clay and debris carried by stormwater or natural streams feeding it and releases clean filtered water to the river. Due to an increase in sedimentation load, the water retention capacity of the wetlands has reduced over the years, and as a result, the cumulative buffering capacity of the wetlands along the Brahmaputra has also reduced, leading to a rise in water level in the river and its tributaries during floods and an increase in flood intensity. The rise of the Brahmaputra riverbed after the great earthquake of 1950 already reduced the depth and carrying capacity of the river, requiring wetlands to play an optimal role in buffering stormwater. The restoration and rejuvenation of the wetlands, therefore, is crucial for mitigating flood intensity. Desilting or eviction of encroachment alone will not guarantee the restoration and rejuvenation of the wetlands to the desired level of health under which it will be to provide the ecosystem services at an optimal level. If the problem of the rising level of silt in stormwater discharged to the wetlands is not addressed, it will render the desilting exercise infructuous within a short period. Degradation of Deepor Beel health due to discharge of untreated sewage from Guwahati’s households and stormwater discharge carrying more silt due to clearing of jungles on the city hills and topsoil erosion. If these problems, which have intensified over the years with rapid expansion of the city and increase in population, are left unaddressed, then an isolated plan for restoration and rejuvenation of Deepor Beel cannot be a pragmatic solution. This rationale calls for aligning restoration of Deepor Beel to increase its water-carrying capacity as part of flood moderation in the Brahmaputra floodplain with the flood mitigation for Guwahati by taking structural measures of interlinking of waterbodies to stormwater management, erosion control and soil stabilisation under the activities for the Urban Flood Mitigation project for the city. It is heartening to know that the Central Government has approved a financial outlay of Rs 200 for this project, but ensuring synergy between the project activities for the restoration of Deepor Beel and other wetlands for flood buffering and Guwahati’s flood mitigation will be crucial to derive maximum benefits from the two projects. As the central share of the project is 75%, the onus lies on it to ensure judicious utilisation of funds released for achieving the project objectives and addressing the root causes behind ecological degradation of wetlands in the Brahmaputra floodplains. Traditionally, communities have evolved their own mechanism of conserving the wetlands for availing the ecosystem services such as availability of clean water, recharging of groundwatersources, fish, irrigation, etc. Traditional knowledge and wisdom of the communities are often ignored when infrastructure development is pushed under a top-down decision-making system. Applying ecological intelligence of communities along with modern scientific knowledge is crucial to finely balance development needs. Infrastructure development is crucial for the advancement of human society, and it will be naïve to expect no disturbance to the natural landscape while executing development projects. Sustainable development requires keeping the ecological and natural landscape disturbance to the minimum, and the traditional knowledge of the communities for coexistence with nature can help evolve pragmatic solutions if they are carefully studied and adopted for application in a modern context. Involvement of the communities in restoration and rejuvenation of the wetlands will be a critical determinant of the final outcome of the project and sustainability of the restored health of the wetlands. Primary objectives of many projects often get lost in technicalities of the preparation of detailed project reports and financial nitty-gritty. If quality time is devoted to the planning stage, it will ensure that the project achieves the intended outcomes – restoration and rejuvenation of wetlands for maintaining ecological balance and simultaneous flood risk mitigation.