Rainwater harvesting

Here is a drainage map of the city of Bengaluru sourced from the Central Ground Water Board website. No city sitting on a ridge line should actually get flooded but we have achieved the impossible — of course in parts. A dotted ridge line divides the city between the Vrishabhavathy-Arkavathy-Cauvery basin and the Dakshina Pinakini, from the North to the South. There is a huge difference between these two in the slope, the hydro-geology, the soil, the rainfall, the built up area etc. The drainage patterns - the rajkaluves - are interesting too. They are more dendritic in the Vrishabhavathy-Arkavathy-Cauvery basin…

Pune has a story similar to many other cities in India that grew exponentially without much warning. The unplanned development hit the water resources badly, increasing the city’s dependence on groundwater. Now, the city experiences water scarcity every year, even when the monsoons have been plentiful. Although the authorities have assured the citizens of adequate water storage in the dams and fewer water cuts this year, long-term, sustainable solutions still evade all political discourses. The good news, however, is that the citizens and the housing societies have now started coming forward to work around the problem and advocate changes at…

Last October, we spoke about several instances of individual and community initiatives towards solving water problems of the city. Sewage water treatment and rainwater harvesting are tools households and communities can use for decreasing their water dependency. These are small initiatives in comparison with the water issues Bangalore faces, but aggregating initiatives at the city scale holds potential; such is the discourse, right or wrongly, held by some activists, public servants, businesses etc. Stretching the idea slightly we have: the water problem of Bangalore can be solved through collective action. Stretching it even further: the BWSSB can do its own…

The fully functional water treatment system. Pic: Akshatha M Arjun Ravi Kumar, a builder, once visited T-Zed, an apartment-cum-villa community that treats and reuses all its waste water. There he met Srinivasan Sekar, who as part of the Management Committee there, worked on the water system design. He recalls, "Sekhar offered me a glass of tap water saying that it is generated from sewage, initially I was a bit reluctant to drink it but when I did, (I realised) it was as good as any bottled water. " Arjun lives in an apartment that his firm built - Surbacon Maple,…

Instance 1: Summer of 2012. T-Zed Homes, a gated community spread over five acres in Whitefield was facing acute water shortage, resulting in water rationing within the complex. With ever-growing water needs, even the water supplied by 10 tankers everyday proved to be insufficient for the residents of this housing complex. In the last four years, however, things have changed dramatically for the residents of T-Zed Homes. The successful implementation of sewage water treatment and rainwater harvesting have helped them reduce the dependency on water tankers. 100% working implementation of the sewage treatment plants in the apartment space has led…

Pic: Shubha Ramachandran Often times we (BIOME) are asked to compare the prices of recharge wells quoted by various well diggers. After speaking with the clients, we realise that they maybe comparing apples to oranges. Apples to oranges – since the well is not a standardised product but requires and includes several components and activities. Each well digger has his own vision of the well and related costs. Hence this blog post will throw some light on the components and activites that go into the making of a recharge well. And here we are not speaking of quality of activities…

I needed that drink after just an hour out in the sun on Saturday morning near the Puttenahalli Lake, at Nataraj Layout in JP Nagar. More labour under what looked like a deceptively dull sky that morning and it quietly saps you. At that point, all resolutions incinerate instantly and the body rejects what appears like salad, fresh though it may be. Instead, the body wants to chill on a mat, or even better, on a seat with liquid much stronger. And voila! Nothing like the kind consideration of my fellow nationals in the thoughtful accompaniment of the glass with…

Bangalore is growing at an unprecedented rate,and its sprawling expansions outpaces the public utility's ability to accommodate the skyrocketing demand for water and sanitation services. It is increasingly common for new residential communities to assume total management for their own water and sanitation services through the resident welfare associations. Most of these depend on borewells and tankers, which they sooner or later realise is not a sustainable option. Groundwater recharge, one of the forms of rainwater harvesting, can be instrumental in achieving long-term water security. By taking water out of over-stressed storm drains and replenishing them into shallow aquifers, groundwater…

We had good rainfall (1000mm plus on an average) in 2015. Yet, this summer was harsh for everyone. Would it have helped if we had harvested rainwater? The primary analysis from the project area (Yamalur watershed) observes that there is enough water available for everyone if we do rainwater harvesting leaving excess water to go to the lakes and/or groundwater recharge.   A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that falls in it and drains off of it goes to a common outlet. Biome Trust has been involved in an action research project called Particpatory…

With the rains on their way in, it's a good time to clean up our rainwater filters, sumps and recharge wells.Lately we have received a lot of queries on how to go about with ground water recharge. Groundwater recharge can be achieved by digging recharge wells and redirecting rainwater into them.  Below are the phone numbers of some of the well diggers who can dig wells upto 40 ft deep Krishna : 99862-03022 Pedanna : 97424-23145 Antony: 80507-95139, 90357-10920, 9100691501 Kanthappa: 99169-85003 Muniyappa: 94485-70684 Mohan: 99869-22193 This brochure also provides some information on the process of locating and digging the…