City opens eyes to water conservation

Kavita Arora, a resident of Veracious Landsdale, had low expectations from Varthur lake prior to her first visit on Saturday. Arora’s visit was with a small group of eight participants, there as a follow-up to World Water Day observed the day before.

Arora thought she would just take a walk in a polluted area and was expecting garbage everywhere. “But to my surprise, Varthur is still one of the most beautiful lakes I’ve seen in Bangalore. Even though the sewage inflow problem is there, it’s still managing to serve nearby local residents for cattle feed. The lake trail today definitely aroused our curiosity about its history and potential even though it was only our first visit”, said Arora, who runs a citizen action group called Bangalore Social Ecology.

Over the weekend, Bangalore citizens came together to demonstrate the role they can play in transforming the city into a water-conscious one. From interactive panel discussions to apartment and home open houses showcasing rainwater harvesting and recycling solutions and lake drives, citizens showcased solutions that they have implemented and the impact of the same — on water table, community, culture, and water consciousness of the city.

Catch Every Drop kickstarted with an engaging panel discussion, “Water Matters”, on World Water Day, March 22, that hosted water experts and practitioners like Rohini Nilekani of Arghyam, Vishwanath Srikantaiah, the ‘Zenrainman’ of Biome Environmental Solutions, Sekhar Raghavan from Rain Centre, Chennai and Usha Rajagopalan of Putenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust at the Max Mueller Bhavan.

“We need to bring back the culture of the open well in homes and apartments”, said Vishwanath. MN Thippeswamy, a former chief executive engineer at BWSSB, and an expert who has pioneered several water initiatives in the state, said. “We are running out of water faster than we are running out of oil.” Thippeswamy spoke about the importance of waste water recycling and better management of existing resources.

Raghavan recounted how one good monsoon after Chennai had implemented rainwater harvesting brought a phenomenal increase in water table levels in the city. “Temple tanks where people used to play cricket filled up with water from beneath”, he said.

“If we all do our bit in our homes and for our own localities, the city will be taken care of very well”, said Rajagopalan of the Putenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust, talking about the power of citizen participation in preservation of lakes and water bodies.

On Saturday, eight lakes around the city participated in Lake Diaries - an early morning photography expedition that was led by professional photographers from Korkai. The lake trail at Somasundarapalya lake in HSR Layout saw the active participation of 35 citizens, who discussed the history of the lake, the progress of the restoration work and the challenges ahead. “It is our responsibility to give a better world to our children. They need to see these lakes with water; they need to experience sparrows around them like we have. We started with one tanker a couple of years ago in this area, and today we are heavily dependent on them. We need to save water now,” said Abhishek, a resident of HSR Layout for seven years.

Select photos from the lake trails will become part of a film, “The Lake Diaries” that will highlight Bangalore’s lakes and the need to conserve them. Photos will also be showcased as part of an exhibition on water and the city that will be conducted in Bangalore in mid-April.

The apartment open houses, 15 of them, opened their doors to showcase what systems they have put in place to conserve water. From layouts that reuse their treated water entirely to water their landscapes to apartments carrying out borewell and groundwater recharge from the surplus rain water harvested and homes that do not take any water from the BWSSB, the innovation, commitment to resource management, cost savings and impact is very tangible.

“Water issues are regional; the open house gave us a useful opportunity to interact with neighbourhoods and swap experiences, which was valuable. The event also gave us a chance to discuss larger community issues like conservation of the lakes nearby, with interested members of our locality. We are now planning to work with the local corporator and MLA to start work on the lake in our area,” shared Radhica, vice-president of the RWA at Fern’s Paradise, a layout on Outer Ring Road.

“We must think of how we can live with two sources of water - rain and used water, as groundwater is depleting fast,” said Rajesh Shah, whose home has bathwater going to water the plants and trees, and washing machine water recycled back to the flushes.

“Community participation and interest is key to maintaining any sustainability initiative. This is a great opportunity for us to even explain to our own residents how much we have done,” said Sheetal Kumar, part of the Residents Welfare Committee at Balaji Pristine that has successfully cut its water and energy bills through harvesting and recharging all sources of water at their 132 apartments complex in Whitefield.

‘Walk in the Park’ sessions were organised at Vishweshwarya Rainwater Harvesting Theme park in Jayanagar where participants witnessed live demos of water saving devices. In addition, BWSSB organised guided tour visits to the sewage water treatment system in Cubbon Park and Waste Water Treatment Park at Yelahanka.

“This theme park for rain water harvesting is one of its kind in the country, demonstrating all methods that can be used to save water. There are over 10,000 families in Bangalore today that are living on highly reduced water needs, are successfully harvesting the rain and living without borewells. We should all go out and see these success stories in action,” said Vishwanath during an interaction organised by the BWSSB at the RWH theme park.

The Alternative has been running a six-week campaign on sustainable water conservation called Catch Every Drop with support from Arghyam and in collaboration with India Water Portal and Biome Environmental Solutions.

@write2kill