Vested with the power of Rain Water Harvesting

Rains are not so welcome especially when I am byking around the city. The water from the top might be pure distilled but what comes from underneath isn't! :) One of those nights I got stuck in a heavy downpour and took shelter in this medical shop. It had a small hose from the roof to let the water from the roof to seep through. In the 20 minutes I stood there at least 20-40 liters of water might have just gone down the drain - literally and otherwise... I wondered why would the same people not 'tap' this potential source instead of complaining about roads flooded with water at one time (this water should have been harvested in the first place) and the water shortage at other times. Such power lies in common sense but that happens to be uncommon - more so these days when we think we are developing as a Nation! :)

I am glad I was able to attend this session on Rain Water Harvesting by A R Shivakumar. There has been a sudden interest in this whole idea - before I got to wonder why - I read somewhere that BBMP has made it compulsory - 20L for every square meter of roof area or 10L for every square meter of open space! It was a very good session and they are willing to do such sessions for anybody interested. All one needs to do is go to the nearest BWSSB office and request for the same.

Please visit the Rain Water Harvesting site  by KSCST - it is pretty good.

Video on RWH

There were just too many points in the session beyond these slides. I make an attempt to jot down a few that interested me -

WHO has the estimate of water required per capita 135 liters but BWSSB is able to provide only 95 liters per capita. He started by asking how much did one think his consumption in one day was - many guessed it to be less. He gave the example of milk alone that we use -

1L of milk requires 5L of water during processing in a dairy. The plastic packing and transport were not even talked about. The cow that gives 1L of milk needs to be fed 35L of water. 1kg of sugar equals 2500L of water! The math gets worse as we get deeper yet...

There used to be 262 lakes in Bangalore forming an excellent system with rain water pouring in the center and filling the lakes up. We now have only 82 left mostly polluted or eaten up by weeds - most people waiting to encroach them. See this video on one such lake.

He told that one needn't dishearten as all hope is not lost - Bangalore is a city with better rainfall pattern with avg touching 1000mm. All we need to is  harvest this rain water! :) We have fresh clean water coming from the skies and we just let it flow by us back into the ocean within a few hours of the rain - much dirtier. With the concrete roads and little planning for seepage the ground water tables will only suffer more. Ground water is a public property and people are mis using it. They should harvest rain water and reap its benefits.

One of the best examples he gave was about this house - Sourabha that has sustained for 15 years without using any water from outside. It is also zero on waste and has enough green to consume all the manure generated. A self sufficient house created. I hope to visit the place sometime.

Things are much better in Bangalore as compared to the rural areas where people pay Rs 4 per pot of water while BWSSB brings water of international quality water to your door step each day at Rs 6 for 1000 liters. The poor are paying much higher than the rich!

The session was filled with such facts and I would recommend it be organized in all the places possible.

End of the session one gentleman stood up and told that their apartment should be exempted from this rule as it would not make much sense to harvest water their. The number of families can't really be supported with the limited roof area and the setup would cost them Rs 4 Lakh. Mr Shivakumar overruled his suggestion by asking him to do the calculation per family and compare with the expense for an independent house. If I were given a chance I would ask the gentleman about the water usage pattern of his apartment - I am very sure their water consumption to clean vehicles alone would be a killer.

He spoke of how difficult it is to impose rules. People dig a pit of 1 feet and fill it with jelly calling it a 10 feet pit. They had to create a law not to fill the recharge pits just so that it can be inspected!!!

There is a free help line number created for people to call and find out about RWH - BWSSB's rain water harvesting helpline number- (080) 23348840

Individuals and Institutions can contact Rainwater Harvesting Cell at KSCST for technical advice, planning and project implementation.

Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - 560012
Phone: 080-23341652, 23348848
Telefax: 080-23348840
Email: rwhkscst@vsnl.net

Check out this very impressive list with successful examples. One place where I found that government is doing a fair bit - if people could do their bit nothing like it.

We have a community created for the people in rain water harvesting in Bangalore. Please join the same for any discussions.

Let's harvest some rain this Monsoons!