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WATER WISE
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Sustainable water for Bangalore
• Andhra Pradesh
S. VISHWANATH • Karnataka
• Kerala
The beauty of rainwater harvesting is that every individual can get involved in • New Delhi
the solution rather than be part of the problem • Other States
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SAVE OR PERISH: Think twice before wasting water

Beginning today PropertyPlus on Saturdays will bring in a weekly column on

various aspects related to water, especially highlighting some approaches where
the drops from the rainy days could be skilfully preserved for a rainy day. Get set
t o organise and bring in all the suggestions in the ‘Water Wise’ column to enjoy
the benefits of good saving.

“Realise the potential of harvesting nature’s bounty and hold back your
extravagant habits,” warns our columnist S. Vishwanath of Bangalore’s Rainwater
Club who vociferously advocates the importance of credit-and-deb it wisdom from
water accounts of nature. Vishwanath, a civil engineer and urban planner, heads a
vibrant web-based advocacy group ( www.rainwaterclub.org) to propagate good
practices of water management and sanitation and conducts awareness activities
throughout the year.

Aapo rakshati rakshitaha — water saves those who protect water. This is a
modification of an old Sanskrit saying ‘Dharmo rakshati rakshitahao’ and perhaps
just as relevant for our times.

Bangalore is a city located on a plateau 900 metres above sea level. This provides
it with the salubrious climate which is the envy of the rest of India. With no
perennial river flowing within it, the city now has to come to terms with protecting
its water resource and ensure sustainability.

The city receives water mainly from the Cauvery (it provides more than 70 per
cent of the city’s requirement) and to a small extent from Hesaraghatta and
Thippagondanahalli reservoirs on the Arkavathy. Water is drawn from the Netkal
balancing reservoir and treated at Torekadinahalli and pumped to the city, a
distance of 95 kilometres. The elevation and the distance to which water has to be
pumped makes it necessary to use three stages of pumping.

Huge energy cost

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The Hindu : Property Plus Bangalore : Sustainable water for Bangalore http://www.thehindu.com/pp/2007/05/26/stories/2007052652510...

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has to pay nearly 60
per cent of its revenue to BESCOM since the energy cost of pumping is huge.
Nearly 800 million litres of water is pumped every day into the city with the
completion of the Cauvery IV Stage-Phase 1 scheme. With the next phase, the
volume will increase by another 500 million litres of water per day. The cost of
production of water is about Rs.18 a kilolitre at present and will rise to Rs.28 a
kilolitre in the future.

All this means that we have to look at our water resources holistically and draw up
an integrated plan for sustainable management of this precious natural resource.
Water in the city is at present fragmented physically and institutionally.

Lakes and tanks are mainly with the Lake Development Authority, groundwater is
with nobody as a responsibility and with everybody to draw from indiscriminately,
water in the pipes is the responsibility of the BWSSB, storm water is the
responsibility of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, and sewage, when it flows in
pipes, is with the BWSSB.

Proper management will need to begin by coordinating the efforts of all these
bodies involved in one way or the other with water. We have a Comprehensive
Development Plan for our city, which is essentially a Land Use Plan. We quickly
need a comprehensive Water Use Plan.

The newly constituted Lake Development Authority should become the Water
Management Authority for our city and should coordinate the efforts of all bodies
concerned with water in our city.

Surface water bodies

We will need to preserve our lakes and tanks and ensure that treated water of
high quality is stored in them. These lakes and tanks are like the kidneys of
Bangalore, according to environmentalist Yellappa Reddy.

Lakes and tanks clean water and are the ecological storehouses of bio-diversity.
They recharge ground water and ensure that wells and borewells function.

The Lake Development Authority will have to gear up and draw up a strategic plan
which is quickly implemented to protect all the water bodies in at least the 1249
square kilometres of planning area of Bangalore. Resources will need to be
identified for investment, if necessary, from the State budget or through aid
agencies. Transparency and accountability would need to be ensured for all funds
spent.

Ground water

Ground water needs to be protected by legislation and it’s drawal for commercial
purpose regulated. Recharge mechanisms should be identified to ensure both
quantity and quality water in the nearly one lakh and above borewells of
Bangalore.

As a beginning it should be mandatory to recharge every borewell through

rooftop rainwater harvesting when the borewells come up for serving domestic
water requirements. If it is our right to draw water, it should be our responsibility
to use it in moderation and to recharge the groundwater.

Waste-water

Water treatment and recycling will be essential to serve industrial and domestic
needs. In neighbourhoods the local tank or lake which is the natural recipient of
all rainwater and surface water should serve as an effluent treatment centre.

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The Hindu : Property Plus Bangalore : Sustainable water for Bangalore http://www.thehindu.com/pp/2007/05/26/stories/2007052652510...

Wastewater should be treated to such high standards that it is possible to keep it in

the closest lake itself. The water cycle will be completed at the neighbourhood
level and decentralised water management would be possible.

Rainwater harvesting

Rainwater harvesting is now mandatory and is better if implemented early.

Rainwater falling on the city is nearly 3000 million litres per day, equivalent in an
average year of rain. Compare this to the water being pumped from the Cauvery
and other sources, which will ultimately be 1500 million litres per day and one
realises the quantum available for harvesting.

The beauty of rainwater harvesting is that every individual can get involved in the
solution mode rather than be part of the problem. A 100 square metre roof area
receives nearly a lakh of litres of rain in a year and all that we do now is to put it
into the drain. By either storing it or by recharging the aquifer we should not only
create a resource for ourselves but also mitigate urban flooding.

The BWSSB is doing a Herculean job in supplying water to the city.

Its efforts need to be supplemented and coordinated in a holistic fashion. The

water requirement for a city are not merely for human consumption but have a far
wider role which is ecological, recreational, micro climate influencer, spiritual,
cultural and much more.

Bangalore was a city of tanks and the agrarian community, which first occupied it,
depended on the tanks for livelihood. The ‘karaga’ festival, unique to Bangalore,
is a festival around water. Water has been the cradle of civilisation, and
civilisations, the graveyard for water. Bangalore has to come to terms with its
mismanagement of water and take steps to manage it better. We owe it to
ourselves, but more importantly to our future generations.

From next week we shall go deeper into the water scenario and diagnose the ills
and suggest remedies to enable better storage.

(The author can be contacted at 23641690 or zenrainman@gmail.com)

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