Ground water scarcity

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.

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?

• Ground water table indicators for 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005 and now?
• Percentage of households that draw water from ground vs those that depend on piped supply
• Quality of ground water in diff areas
• Quality of BWSSB's supply in diff areas?
• Level of enforcement of RWH legislation? Who is required to enforce it? BWSSB itself, BBMP, or pass the buck back to the city police (I doubt).

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.

Unless someone spots scantily clad women swimming inside BWSSB's pipes or lakes

 

ROTFLMAO... or you could try a rave party inside the pipes...

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

http://bmrc.co.in/pdf/IISc-Report.pdf Though slightly unrelated, it talks about the monitoring wells and have some data about those. After reading the comment by Vishwanath I remembered about this report.
rmb

Here are a couple more films in Kanndda on rainwater harvesting in Bangalore

 

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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 ?? :):):)

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PS Remember to have fun especially when things go a bit wrong, it's nothing compared to what Madoff/Satyam did to us

During the years 1988-92, my father was a manager at the Yelanka branch of a nationalised bank. He recounted that there was a RBI recommendation, based on a geo-agency report, that no loans be given for borewells in the Yelahanka-Devanahalli zone. This was based on the fact that the ground water was completed exploited, and the minimum distance between two borewells was not at all honoured.
      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

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