Smart Cities - Can Bangalore become one?

"Take your favourite lake example? Why can tamper proof water pollution measuring meters send real time data directly to the KSPCB/LDA so a dashboard can show them increase & decrease in pollution levels? How complicated is this? What inefficiencies does it remove? Like the traffic cameras, if summarized data from the dashboard not exposed to public on a regular basis even having technology will become useless. This is the transparency part where we can focus on laws, public dislosure etc. Split the problem into things that you can manage more easily than the rest & start killing those inefficiencies thru technology."

IDS, this example of yours is not correct to best of my knowledge.

Bellandur Lake is receiving Sewage [3billion cusec] water 24 hrs per day for all 365 days, in a year, through the 20 odd storm water drains. If you are aware Storm Water Drains as the name suggests is supposed to supply ONLY pure rain storm water to the lake. If that were the case it would never get polluted. Hence I cannot but laugh reading the above quoted paragraph.

Your enthusiasm for technology is well appreciated though. Come and join project Belladur Lake. It is boring some times to be a lone ranger for me.

IDS Kindly understand there is no need to monitor Sewage levels in lakes as such. On the other hand what is needed is to discourage those who are responsible for diverting sewage water overflow in to the storm water drains. I hope you know that ther are seperate lines for Storm water and sewage water. Storm Water drains are open and of rectangular cross section. On the other hand Sewage lines are now a days concrete pipes of 400, 600 mm dia. They used to be of seramics earlier. 

Sewage is to be detected at entry point. Usually it is visual inspection what is sufficient. However if you think this is out moded then you are welcome to use the detection techniques sitting at the console you are hinting. 

our sewege lines are not planned well enough and they will empty into SWD's..we will need to accept this 

and will they end up in our lakes..yes..thats also a fact which cannot be denied..

so what do we do? how about treatment plants as the water enters the lakes?

Small treatment plants as described in the video here should go a great distance in keeping our lakes clean..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e20nWqAT874

Some clarifications can be sought in the relevant project on Bellandur Lake. Some help is required. Can interested people join please? 

"
In the last few months, many apartments in the city were pulled up 
for not operating their Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) 
according to standards. Apartment associations had complained 
that the standards set for STPs were too stringent and that 
officials did not follow clear guidelines during inspection. "

If the BBMP can pull up Apartments for not operating their STPs according to the standards, how are they justified in letting 3 million CUSECS of untreated Sewage water in to the Bellandur Lake for all the 365 days of a year? 

Half hearted pollution watch dog indeed! 

PSA sir,  You raise a valid point.  The biggest culprit is BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and SEWERAGE Board) which is responsible for treating the sewage, not the BBMP.  Huge volumes of sewage daily gets dumped into the three vallies of Bangalore by the board without any punishment.  Their existing STPs are known to function poorly.

This was a line of reasoning I understand many of the aggrevied apartments used when notice was served upon them by the KSPCB.  I spoke with one of the leaders of the group of Apts that got a notice.

They argued, correctly that

(a) KSPCB is failing in its duties because they are not checking the rampant discharge of untreated / partly treated sewage by BWSSB and other areas without any sewage lines while coming after apartments which are at least treating some of their sewage

(b) They picked and demonstrated clear holes in KSPCBs consent process and framework

(c) There was a laundry list, but the summary was that the STP plan was ill thought out. The board is not fully performing its mission which is clearly identified in the various acts and rules. Also that the consent fees etc. is very arbitrary and unfair.

The KSPCB is apparently in the process of making some changes to address these valid concerns.  Hopefully, the outcome, at least as far as apartmentslevel STPs are concerned is that the concerns will be addressed and the process improved with the board tightly regulating the design and construction of STPs to its satisfaction before being handed over to apt associations.one

The newly appointed young water meter reader informed me to day that according to a new rule I have to pay Rs 50/- per month extra if I use my well water. On enquiry I found out the reason why. If I use my well water BWSSB believes that my sewage water loads on their sewage lines will increase, to that extent.

I was elated with fond hopes of BWSSB providing sufficient Sewage Water drains capacity so that the storm water drains are kept clean. Though we do not use our well water for house hold use I still asked him to charge the extra Rs 50/- PM.

On second thought, I think the reason for the charging might be for depleting the ground water. I am at my wits end to figure out the real reason for charging extra Rs 50/- month after month for using my own well water their by reducing the demand on precious Cauvery water. 

However my wife was aghast at my stupidity. I on the other hand on the logic behind BWSSB's "smart" move.

@sanjayv

Yes you are right.  The sanitary charges are 15/- which is being charged for me.

I have a well since 1986 when I built the house. For compulsory RWH compliance I collect all the rain water on my 60x40 site and charge the well. All these years since 1986 we never used the well water. Even now it is the same.

The boy told me that there is no [extra?] charge if one does not use the well water.  In any case I don’t see any relevance in the use of well water for sewage treatment charges. All Houses discharging their sewage water in to sewage drains need to pay for treatment of the same. The charges should vary with built-up area to keep it simple.

I tried contacting Mr. T Venkataraju Chief Engineer BWSSB, without any success. I plan to try again tomorrow morning.

Source - Times Of India

"...Patna could soon get its own version of London's famed Thames Path or Mumbai's Marine Drive: a long, pleasant walk or drive on along the banks of the river Ganga.

At 40 km, Patna's Ganga driveway will be shorter than the Thames Path, which is 64 km long, but vastly longer than Marine Drive, which stretches a mere 3 km along the shore of the Arabian Sea.

The finance ministry and Planning Commission have cleared the project, which will cost 2,400 crore. Land for the project has come at little cost: the Ganga has altered its course leaving spare land in its wake. .."

There is ample justification for a paper less society with an ever growing robust computer technology.  TV9 covered the incident live:-

“Fire tenders were called presumably for a major fire at BBMP head office at about 9:00 PM on Saturday November 19 2011. Short circuit was suspected. 8 fire tenders were requested. The fire broke at third floor of BBMP office. 3 fire tenders arrived several office files might have been gutted in the fire. BBMP files are safe Sidhaiya.”

The news however was reported in TOI only today, Monday the 21 Nov 2011.