Groundwater Stories

Most borewells along Sarjapura Road do not yield much water. A new apartment opposite Kaikondrahalli Kere is also struggling for water as their borewells run dry. The builder decides to revive an old  open well in his property. The well is  18ft in diameter and 40ft deep and has been fully closed with mud. Pedanna the well digger is called in. Alongwith his team Pedanna excavates all the 40ft of mud manually. They strike water at about 20ft below ground level. The water has to be pumped out as they continue to dig. The well is now completely excavated and…

A question we often get asked as rainwater harvesters is, is there any point in building a recharge structure adjacent to a lake ? Does the lake not recharge ground water ? Will the recharge structure/well make any difference ? This is a very pertinent question and I can write on what we have seen from experience Very often you do see old open wells adjacent to lakes. The well used to be the place from where people drew the water for use. The water level in the lake and the water level in the well would more or less…

Having worked with, seen and spoken to numerous borewell owners, it is apparent that the borewells that yield well; say about more than 60,000 litres of water per day (that are used by layouts, tanker operators, industries etc) are those that are shallower than 800ft. Its not the 1000+ft borewells that yield copious amounts of water. Even if it is a 1000+ft borewell that is yielding a lot of water, a camera inspection will reveal that actually its the shallower cracks that yield more water. Take a look at the attached picture to somewhat make sense of Bangalore's geology and…

Can Bengaluru work towards getting back to its openwells? This is the story of a community (Adarsh Palm Retreat near Devarabeesanahalli Lake) near a lake that is looking to use an open well as one of its sources of water. Do watch the video Bengaluru (and other growing cities) are increasingly dependent on groundwater. In current time, borewells, are a very important source of water. Bengaluru now needs to manage its grounwater sustainably. While the city suffers from drying and dying borewells there are also pockets where water tables are shallow. We need to understand this and become stewards of…

Water Metering is an often discussed topic, and apartment metering, even more so, due to the complications rising out of multiple inlets. There have been a few and often spoken about apartments that have implemented metering at a household level - namely Nestor Raga, Ashoka Windows, Samhita Square etc. We came across this plumber—Krishnamoorthy—who in the meanwhile has implemented metering in multiple apartments. Here is the complete list. The largest is an apartment in Hyderabad - 800+ homes!!! We are also impressed with the fact that he has diligently maintained a list of all apartments where he has worked. A…

World water day at Rainbow Drive layout, March 22nd  Is there any other better way to celebrate world water day than at Rainbow Drive (RBD) layout in Bengaluru? Rainbow Drive has been a pioneer in many good practices towards water sustainability, and this was one such occasion which provided an opportunity to celebrate that spirit of working towards water self-sufficiency. The involvement of the young generation in taking photographs and developing a movie on the good practices followed in the community, the residents themselves talking about the current practices and interventions around solid waste management, recharge wells, rainwater harvesting, etc. made…

Lalbagh has 240 acres of land, almost at the center of the city. This was started in the year 1760 by Hyder Ali as a private garden of 40 acres which eventually expanded to accommodate approximately 1,854 species of flora including various ornamental plants. Glass house, aquarium, sidewalks, nursery and many other attractions lure the visitors. The park requires approximately 2.1-2.2 million liters of water daily, hence when there is no rain, artificial watering is a must. This could be problematic too, as the water supply in the city is dwindling. A 20-acre tank, nine bore wells (sparing three non-functional old…

  A Rainwater Harvesting system was implemented in Vivek Khanna's residence in Shubh Enclave in early 2009. The system comprised storage of rooftop rainwater in a large 15,000 litre sump as well as two recharge wells of 5ft diameter and 30ft depth.    A chance encounter with Vivek Khanna at Kasavanahalli lake today revealed that his sump fills up with water every time it rains, reducing his dependence on ground water. His recharge wells have not only kept his borewell running but also resulted in water in the newly dug borewells of his downstream neighbours (probably because of the recharge)…