Rainwater Harvesting in a Govt School in Bijuwara, Bangalore

An initiative by Samyukth Iyer Sequeira - a grade 6 student studying in the Singapore American School - to facilitate access to water for school children in rural Bangalore, has resulted in the commissioning of a rainwater harvesting system in Govt Primary High School in Bijuwara which is around 55 kms from Bangalore city.

The school has two one storey buildings with roof area around 1250 and 800 sq ft respectively. The village Panchayat supplies water once in around 15 days and this is stored in a sump which is around 4000 litres in capacity. There is also a surface level storage tank which currently is in a state of disuse. The daily water consumption is around 1500 litres which is mainly used for toilet flushing, vessel washing and cooking.

By tapping the rooftop from the two buildings, it is possible to harvest a total of 154 KL of water annually assuming an annual rainfall of 900 mm. The downpipes from the two building would be led to a filtration chamber which is then led to a storage tank.

Some of the work in progress pictures:

 

An open letter from the students of Government School in Hanumanahalli, Mulbagal Taluk

Ashwin an Intern with BIOME Trust (selected as part of the Earthian program by WIPRO) is working on testing water samples for fluoride in the Kolar district. Grama Vikasa in Devarayasamudra is helping us enable this. So far he has visited 300 villages and has tested samples from 270 ground water sources. We will be sharing the results shortly. In the meanwhile he has engaged with school children and finds them to be very enthusiastic and diligent in testing water samples for fluoride. Children have the highest number of cases of dental fluorosis and are most affected. Here is an open letter to "concerned authorities" to take some action - written and signed by all students of the class

If you can read the "Kannda script" do read the letter

 

 

A report on Groundwater Recharge in the Jakkur Lake : Written by Pia

Pia, an intern with BIOME Trust evaluates possibilities and risks with sewage water reuse. She does this in the context of the Jakkur lake in the North of Bangalore. The aim of the project was to study the nitrate levels of the treated water flowing through Jakkur Lake from the BWSSB sewage treatment plant situated at the inlet, and thereby value the function of the lake as a wastewater treatment and a groundwater recharging system.

The full file is here :

The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water : A video by the surfriderfoundation

A very well made video. Speaks of problems and solutions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=espNKMCZ1kU&feature=share

Core Cutting : A specialised job

Job done - see the neat hole on the top

Rainwater harvesting implementation often involves core cutting. Core cutting is done so as to put the rainwater pipe into an existing concrete sump. Core cutting or Concrete cutting is a process of controlled sawing, drilling and removal of concrete performed by skilled operators using special saws that use diamond impregnated blades.This method leaves a smooth attractive finish and utilizes water so as not to create any dust or mess. 

In Bangalore there are specialized workers and groups that do just this. Even reputed builders make use of their services. It requires for the worker to be strong and skilled as the equipment is heavy and requires a certain degree of strength and finesse to use the same. Once the "core" comes out, the pipe is fixed and water proof plastering is done on the inside as well as outside to prevent any leakages

It takes more than an hour (and a lot pf patience and hard work) to drill through 20 inches of concrete. Pictures and Video from a recently completed job

Marking the location for the core cutting

The Extracted Core

Core cutting in progress

Removing the core

Water for cooling

Hoisting and fixing the equipment

Deccan Herald on World Water Day

BIOME Trust at the EPGP Seminar Series at IIM-Bangalore

BIOME Trust engages with students of  a full time management programme at IIM Bangalore on "Bangalore and its Water Problems and Solutions" as part of a Seminar Series

The students are part of a  full-time Executive Post Graduate Programme (EPGP) which is an intensive one year residential programme at IIM Bangalore created specifically for professionals with remarkable track records and five to fifteen years of work experience in a wide range of industries 

The EPGP Seminar Series provides a platform for students to engage with eminent personalities from different walks of life - artists, scientists, media figures and representatives of NGOs. Organized by the EPGP students themselves, the seminars take place throughout the year approximately once every fortnight.  More details here : http://www.iimb.ernet.in/postgraduate/epgp