Practical Road standards for manageable Cross Sections

 A road is not the mere outer visible surface. It is a volume to be precise. [This “Volume” concept is more attractive than conceiving a road as a  3-D object. Thanks to my visit to CSTEP some time back]. Its underbelly is the home of many services essential for the city / place it serves. 

These services could be in form of 

1.      RWH

a.       Ground water Charging

b.      Storage Tanks for the harvested rain water

2.      Distribution

a.       pipes

                                                                   i.      Potable (Cauvery + local) rain harvested waters

                                                                 ii.      Sewerage

                                                                iii.      cooking gas (newly proposed)

                                                               iv.      etc

b.      Cables

                                                                   i.      Power

                                                                 ii.      Communication (voice, data / Inter net)

                                                                iii.      Entertainment

                                                               iv.      Etc

3.      Additional (At present on Surface) proposed to be underground

a.       Distribution Boxes for

                                                                   i.      Power Cables

                                                                 ii.      Other (non power) Cables

b.      Power Transformers

c.       Etc possible?

Preamble 

After air for breathing, Water for drinking is the second essential requirement for life. Humans can survive only a few minutes without air and a few days without water. With increasing human population scarcity of potable water is looming large over the horizon. 

Humans and many other living beings and organisms are mobile as opposed to stationary life viz the plant life. The plants are stationary by design. They are the “creators” plan or strategy of sustaining the mobile land creatures’ he (later?) created.  “Green” that is stationary plant species have thus become the obsession not only in our country but also in all other countries on the planet earth. Our Bangalore the metropolis of Karnataka in particular too is no exception. Why is this? A brief introduction to put things in perspective may be appropriate. 

The sustainability chain starts with let us say production of food for vegetarian life. The salts in the earth crust plus water are the raw materials for the green vegetation. The green leaves are the factories of nature which produces the carbohydrates.   

“Any of a group of organic compounds that includes sugars, starches, celluloses, and gums and serves as a major energy source in the diet of animals These compounds are produced by photosynthetic plants and contain only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, usually in the ratio 1:2:1” 

After ingestion the animals get their energy for their mobility by burning the above fuel. The main point to be made here is the waste material produced by these animals both in liquid and solid form are the raw materials for the vegetating life, thus completing the life cycle energy transfer involved in enabling mobility to the animals. 

Coming to the point, the human / animal excreta which form the major source of the so called sewerage is not a waste. On the other hand it is worth its weight in gold! It is to be suitably disposed in an efficient and use full manner. The Bangalore residents in general and Water and Sewerage board in particular needs to take cognizance of this very important point. 

The detergents and soaps we use need to be made of safe material. Each brand of soap needs to be certified accordingly. Each brand of powder used for cleaning vessels needs to be certified too. Taking care of these points is probably enough to deal safely and with comparative ease the problem of sewerage disposal. 

There need be no Industries in Bangalore which produce harmful wastes difficult to safely dispose.  

A collection of  RWH pictures is here.