Rainwater Harvesting Project Phase 2 in Rashtriya Vidyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore

Rashtriya Vidyalaya College of Engineering (RVCE) spread over 52.5 acres is located in the Bangalore Mysore road (between Jnanabharathi and Kengeri). There are seven borewells and one open well in the campus area. Due to continuous pumping of the borewells (to the tune of 7-8 hours a day), there is a significant risk of over exploiting the aquifer. The total water consumption of the campus is pegged at around 500 kilo litres (KL) per day of which BWSSB supply is around 40 KL per day and the rest is obtained through borewells.

KPMG, as a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility program identified RVCE for implementation of a rainwater harvesting system. The first phase of this project was executed way back in 2010 with design inputs from Biome The rooftops of three blocks were tapped and directed to a 150 KL sump. This system helped the college in harvesting close to 3 million litres of rooftop runoff annually. Additionally, the overflow from the sump was fed to a recharge well which helped in replenishing the ground water table.

Buoyed by the success of the first phase, the second phase was planned with the intent to increase the quantum of rainwater harvested. This involved tapping rooftops of two hostel blocks (Chamundi and New MV Block) adding up to an area of 2439 sq m. The runoff is directed to two brick masonry filters, whose output is led to a new 50 KL sump. A 3 HP centrifual pump does duty to pump the water from this sump to one of the colleges' existing sump.

The complete system was inaugarated by officials from KPMG on the 23rd October, 2013.

This system has the potential to harvest around 1.6 million litres a year.

The open well in the campus gets the surface runoff of the campus that flows in the storm water drains. Consequently, the well is filled with all kinds of debris and is a picture of neglect in its current state. It is high time that the cleaning up and maintenance of the well is taken up as one of the main action items for the next phase of the rain water harvesting initiative in the college.

Do-it-yourself Workshop for children

Rainwater harvesting is becoming an essential tool for citizens of Bangalore. It is not only a piece of theory now, but has been practically implemented. With studies revealing that Bangalore’s lakes are mostly now sewage lakes and majority of them has just depleted has raised the concern for water to a higher extent. Biome as rainwater club provides the knowledge base for rainwater harvesting, grey water recycling as a part of responsible water management initiative. Raising awareness among people especially kids is also a part of this initiative.

This was a workshop with kids of Adarsh Palm retreat located in Outer Ring Road conducted by Subhomita Ghosh Roy from Biome Environmental Solutions on October 19,2013 from 4.30 to 6 PM. Shreya Vissamsetti a kid of Std. XII was the first one who got interested in this. We made a Tippy Tap and a Rain gauge. Tippy Tap is generally used for handwasing purpose to maintain hygiene and also it saves water while handwasing compared to normal tap water. Rain gauge is generally used for rainfall data recording purpose. A week later a workshop was organized for the kids of Adarsh Palm.

Kids were from 6-14 years. About 16 kids were present in the workshop.

Primarily it was information about water issues, purpose and utility for water management and conservation, rainwater harvesting, grey water recycling and what Biome is doing in this regard. The kids were surprised to know certain facts that were completely unknown to them. For example, they were surprised to know that how deep we need to go for searching and getting water from borewell or how rainwater harvesting is done or the extent it can help us.Next it was the turn for them to make rain gauges on their own. They were asked to get a bottle for the workshop from which they made the gauges pretty easily with the markings on it. They learned when and how this instrument is used. They also saw and used the tippy tap that was made previously. Washing hand under it was a fun experience for them.

The last part of this hour-long workshop was the quiz. There were about 20-25 questions on water awareness, water conservation, water issues in Bangalore and India, rainwater harvesting, water recycling. At the end some gifts were presented to all of them.

Rain Gauge

Tippy Tap

The making

Workshop in Progress

Quiz