Background:
Urban
India is grappling with multiple water management challenges. The groundwater
abstraction is increasing day by day yet, our understanding of aquifers-
logical unit for groundwater management- is very poor. To understand the nature
of aquifers, water balance and most importantly demystify the science of
groundwater for citizens by taking the learnings back to the citizens; an
experiment was initiated in 2014 called Participatory Aquifer Mapping (PAQM) in
Yamalur watershed. It’s been a year since the start and we thought it is time
to share the learnings to the citizens and experts -who have been supportive
throughout this year- to take their feedback and also to know from them on
further process.
Agenda:
The
agenda therefore was to share the learnings from the project so far and take
feedback from different stakeholders as to how to proceed further. This was
important to understand as the aim of the project is not to confine within the
academic limits but bridge the gap by demystifying the science of groundwater.
Presentations:
The
workshop started with P S Narayan, head of Wipro sustainability initiatives
sharing his idea behind Wipro technologies partnering with this project and
lending financial support for the initiative.
Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni from ACWADAM- project partner for
PAQM- initiated the workshop with a presentation giving overview of groundwater
aquifers in the country and the need for participation from citizens and
governance institutions in collaboration for effective groundwater management.
The presentation can be found here: Groundwater
overview in India.
Avinash Krishnamurthy from Biome Environmental Trust,
elaborated on the groundwater situation in Bengaluru to set the context of the
Participatory Aquifer Mapping project (PAQM). The presentation can be found
here: Catalysing
a social response to manage groundwater. The
presentation highlighted the fact that in absence of formal institutional
services, communities themselves be the champions by sustainably managing the
groundwater. A community called Rainbow Drive layout, located off
Sarjapur road, has managed to close the water cycle loop by successfully
managing the water within their campus.
Shubha Ramachandran from Biome Environmental Trust then
elaborated on the process of aquifer mapping by describing the objectives,
outcomes and outputs expected, data collection methods as well as
challenges encountered while collecting data. The detailed presentation can be
found here: Process
of aquifer mapping
The highlight of the event was indeed the citizen stories: Mr. Naganath Iyer from SJR redwoods shared his experience
on the story of their borewell, Mr. Manjunath as an estate manager with Rainbow
Drive, Mr. K P Singh from Rainbow drive on a layout's effort towards
sustainable water management and lastly Mr. Muniyappa, a well digger from bovi
community now involved in construction of recharge wells all across Bengaluru.
The stories can be found here: People and
Groundwater
The last set of presentation was sharing of interpreted
results from the first year of the project. This was done by Kaustubh Mahamuni
from ACWADAM. The detailed presentation can be found here: Interpretations
of aquifer- interim results. The interim results
so far show that the rock type in this region is mostly granite-which is of
crystalline typology- with hard rock as a major constituent. Based on the
geology it shows that the porosity is low in the region and hence recharging
will take a long time as it'll only be through fractures and joints.
Furthermore, the data shows that the borewells in the region are tapping water
from confined aquifers i.e. at deeper depths where again the recharging becomes
difficult.
The
presentation above were interspersed with Question and Answers so that a space
is provided for interaction. This was moderated by S. Vishwanath from Biome
Environmental Trust.
Mr.
Ashwin Mahesh, founder of MapUnity and project partner lending support for
developing software component of the project also spoke about knowledge sharing
as the existing gap in the current urban scenario. The software component is
developed with the intent of creating space for all to share their stories,
discuss and engage in communication for knowledge development.
Responses
by participants during the workshop:
Prof.
Mohan Kumar, IISc: While appreciating the effort of PAQM, he shed light on the
journey of water abstraction from open wells to borewells and stated that it is
required to move from borewell to dug well! Sharing his thoughts on recharging
aquifer through treated waste water, he cautioned that there shouldn’t be
direct recharge. The treated water should first be passed through soil barriers
as an additional filter and then only after due care the treated water should
be disposed into aquifers.
Sharad
Lele, ATREE: He touched upon an important aspect in this exercise- what do we
consider better groundwater management, how do we define best practice,, how is
sustainability and equity addressed in the project? He suggested that these are
some of the questions one should be aware of and should flag of normative
concerns right in the beginning so that readers and viewers become aware.
CGWB:
Dr. Sawkar from CGWB emphasized on the importance of understanding the geology
and heterogeniety due to geology so that better knowledge about recharge and
discharge can be known.
Mr.
Siddaramiaih, KSPCB: Sharing his thoughts on self regulation and managing one’s
water he mentioned- Communities like Rainbow drive managing their own water and
closing the loop puts less burden on the agencies. Also, a proper cost benefit
analysis to elaborate on the strategies of rainbow drive would be useful.
Furthermore, he cautioned that recharge of groundwater through treated water
should only be done when proper care for removal of nitrates and phosphates is
taken.
Rohit
Chakravarthy, NCBS: Drawing on his experience of participatory experiences in
different sectors like e-bird portal and season watch for documenting birds and
monitoring trees, Rohit explained the outreach mechanisms. Season watch and
e-bird are two initiatives which call for citizen participation and tapping
onto already existing citizen science. He cautioned that the scale and data
quality issues are very critical and hence need to be considered.
Dr.
Lingaraju, Department of Mines and Geology: Drawing on his experience of
working with department of Mines and geology as well as Kumudvathi river
rejuvenation project; he elaborated on the necessity of understanding geology.
He suggested that obtaining the thematic geomorphology map as well as drainage
map is essential as it can help in identifying zones feasible for recharge.
We would like to thank all the participants for sharing their views during and also after the workshop through different channels of communications. We hope to continue this engagement with you all!
