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