According to officials from Department of Mines and Geology, the groundwater situation is in a critical condition in Bangalore. The situation has worsened in the last three years. The average annual rainfall in the district is only 600 mm to 700 mm per year. Because of the drought in 2001, 2002 and 2003, groundwater recharge has been very low!! ******This is alarming*******.
I wonder why our government or our educated bangaloreans want to do nothing about it. Yes the government probably has a rule that Rain water harvesting(RWH) facility is compulsory in apartments and so on.... but who is monitoring it???? The apartment I live in does not implement RWH... Its a shame that the governing body is unable to enforce this..
Chennai, one of the hottest cities in South India had faced a situation worse than what Bangalore is witnessing today. However the then chief minister put her foot down and made it mandatory for all house holds to install RWH systems in their homes. A deadline was given - failing which the residents would be void of electricity & water connection.. Now...This is what I call a RULE. Ofcourse, the people of Chennai are throughly enjoying the benefits of this decision made by the lady of the State "Hail CM-Jayalalitha"
ooooooh....We are ashamed to use ideas other states have implemented. Huh this is Karnataka! we are a educated lot, we belong to the silicon valley of India.... ooooh aaaaah.................. If this is the attitude the government & we carry, sorry, we are not heading towards progression.
I urge everyone who is reading this to give it a thought. Read more about Rain Water Harvesting and the BENEFITS we all will reap out of it. Again, this does not matter if one house in a colony implements it, its got be be every house. Please educate as many people on the positives of RWH implementation.
Cheers for a better Bangalore!!!
"We should feedback what we recieve from Nature"
Ground water scarcity
- chetana kolli's blog
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Comments
I totally agree with you.
It is useful and the right thing to do
Try this site... http://www.rainwaterclub.org/
I have it in my house. I harvest and recharge the groundwater. You can choose to use it for consumption after filtering which would be wise if you are short of water in your area.
rainwater harvesting & BWSSB
I believe there was a circular that BWSSB will not sanction fresh connections without rain water harvesting. I had to google around to find that article -
http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/03/stories/2007060308500400.htm
I found an interesting video on youtube about it -
BWSSB itself has a page devoted to this on it's site -
http://www.bwssb.org/rainwater_harvesting.html
important issue
Thanks for the post Chetana. This (ground water management, water supply, distribution as well) is such an important issue for city's growth, but doesn't get the coverage and attention it deserves.
Do we have good studies to understand the magnitude of the problem?
Unless someone spots scantily clad women swimming inside BWSSB's pipes or lakes, I don't think mainstream media is going to take interest and track all of city's water management activities for us.
water issues
Unless someone spots
Unless someone spots scantily clad women swimming inside BWSSB's pipes or lakes
ROTFLMAO... or you could try a rave party inside the pipes...
Comparison with Rural India
Rainwater harvesting
A quick reply to the questions raised by readers
Average amount of water used by a citizen in Bangalore : 250 litres per person per day
Average amount in rural Karnataka: 40 litres per person per day
Ground water table indicators historically : Both the Central Ground Water Board and the Dept of mines and geology track it through
monitoring wells . Data not easily accessible :) However
ground water tables are falling in the outskirts of the city and RISING in the heart of the city (mostly through leaking water pipes and sewage not collected properly)
Ground water quality : On the decline with NITRATE contamination from domestic sewage reported in more than 65% of bore wells
Percentage of people who draw groundwater : Approximatley 25% Most people also use it as a supplement
BWSSB water has residual chlorine and is therefore good wherever supplied and this is monitored regularly
Thiings to remember
BWSSB does a herculean job in getting water to the city from a source far away
BWSSB has every connection metered Bangalore is one of the only city in India to have this at such a scale
The increasing block tariff is one of the best in India
Water is hugely subsidised for the middle and upper class. If you consume 25,000 litres a month you get a subsidy of more than Rs 450/- a month and annually Rs 5000/-
Every new house has to have rwh both BBMP and BWSSB make it mandatory . No the police don't eneter the picture but
hey citizens have rights as well as responsibilites and while we see a clamour for rights the responsibility thing is what will
drive society towards positive action :)
Rainwater harvesting makes a huge difference individually and if done collectively even more
Here are some more youtube movies for you
and many more if you search for zenrainman on youtube.com including greywater reuse and ecosan
regards
Vishwanath
Thanks zenrainman and IDS
ZRM,
Thanks for that piece of data. I agree that water is far too subsidised for the people who can most afford it. Unless we pay a fair value for this, we will tend to waste it.
IDS - would appreciate it if I can pop by to get some tips on RWH. I want to install it in my mother-in-law's house, but have not had much success with resources. Is it a DIY project or is professional help mandatory?
Srivathsa
Drive safe. It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.
A report on Ground Water Scenario of Bangalore available at
rmb
It could be DIY if you get the fundamentals
IDS - would appreciate it if I can pop by to get some tips on RWH. I want to install it in my mother-in-law's house, but have not had much success with resources. Is it a DIY project or is professional help mandatory?
It could be DIY if you know what you are doing, but there are techniques that have been practised by the pros that you may spend your time breaking your head over. PM me for a visit to my place. I am not qualified to give tips on RWH as I got professional help from folks who work with Vishwanath. Mine is a simple system of capture and recharge. There are other possibilities Vishwanath can show if you can get him to have you over at his place.
Rainwater harvesting/groundwater recharge
Here are a couple more films in Kanndda on rainwater harvesting in Bangalore
and
Srivathsa , it is not really DIY but folks at the www.rainwaterclub.org should be happy to design alongwith a group called labournet
where we are trying to professionalise services but also create livelihoods opportunities for plumbers with ecological initiatives
btw if people are really serious about saving groundwater one major threat is the quality issue . In Bangalore domestic sewage is the single largest contaminant of groundwater so why not try Ecosan ?
Here is how
and finally things about all the things which are invisible such as virtual water, the amount of the stuff that is needed to grow say rice, global warming , climate change, irregular rainfall, carbon emissions,fertilser subsidies, food crisis,peak oil et al
and so at one stroke why not save the world one roof at a time ?? :):):)
and
PS Remember to have fun especially when things go a bit wrong, it's nothing compared to what Madoff/Satyam did to us
water supply to bangalore
Yelahanka-Devanahalli belt
If this was the recommendation 20 years ago, I can imagine the water situation there after the unabated 'development' in the past decade. I can understand that 4000acres of agricultural land was taken over for an airport, but what is the need for every other infrastructure project there. The hardware park, star hotels, race-course, excessive housing layouts etc will only strain the water situation further.
-Srivatsava V
http://srivatsava-vajapeyam.blogspot.com
-Srivatsava V
Devanhalli- water situation
One answer to the development in that area will come from nature alone. A second answer is to reuce demand to the optimum, harvest every drop of rain and recycle water. With that it should be possible for low rise low density developments to manage for water. This is of course true for the rest of the city too.
Nethravathi link
Dr Paramasivaiah, retired Chief Engineer of the Irrigation department, GoK suggests that the Nethravathi river could meet the water requirements of Bangalore Rural district and parts of Chickballapur district.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/14/stories/2009031451250500.htm
Rainwater Harvesting design
Hey folks,
I am a mechanical engineer passed out in 2008 from PESIT. I have worked for a year and now I have quit to start a venture in environmental solutions field. I have been trained by an NGO called TIDE in complete designing and implementation of Rainwater Harvesting at houses as well as large areas and buildings. I am looking for people really serious to get RWH implemented at their places.
I also seek support from environmental friendly folks like you to support me in this regard. Though I have a commercial intention, I have chosen this field because I am keen on creating awareness around people.
Hope I will get all of your support. Any detailed information required, you can mail me at enliven.bengaluru@gmail.com.
Thanks people
Girish