Visit to Asset Gardenia Apartment on 2/8/21

Rakshitha and Shubha visited Asset Gardenia Enclave on 2nd of August 2021. The findings from the visit are documented below:

Asset Gardenia Enclave is a layout located in Whitefield(12.96175, 77.74324). The layout was constructed in the year 2008. It has 88 plots out of which 79 are constructed and 9 empty.  The layout does not receive Cauvery water supply from the BWSSB and is solely dependent on borewells. They are located closer(less than 200m) from Shilavanthakere lake which was recently rejuvenated. The layout is doing well in terms of water management as their BWs are yielding. They also have an old open well which has recently been rejuvenated. The document discusses the water management practices in Asset Gardenia layout in detail.

Water Demand: The layout demands 1MLD of water and the per capita water demand is around 250LPCD.

Water Supply: The layout is solely dependent on Groundwater. There are 2 yielding borewells drilled by the builders of 800ft and 950ft respectively. They yield about 2inches of water. There is a dried borewell dug during 2009-10 which is 650ft deep. The borewells yield remain the same even in summer. The layout uses tanker water for construction purposes and till date they never bought water tankers for domestic use. Villas are not given permission to drill private borewells of their own(as per the law and also would disturb the building columns).

Water Treatment Plant: Asset Gardenia has a Water Treatment Plant where water from the borewells is treated before supplying to the villas.

 Water Treatment Plant

Water Tariff: They follow a flat water tariff where the water bill is calculated by summing up water bills from each villa and dividing by the number of occupied villas.

 

The Old Open Well: 

Before the constitution of the layout, the land was used for agriculture. The open well water was used for irrigation. There are two coconut trees next to the well which stands as a reminiscence of the coconut groove. The well is 20ft wide and 40ft deep. As per the information shared by the solid waste personnel in the layout, the well is around 200years old. The well always had water and it was put into use. After the construction of the layout the well was not put into use. 

The revival: There is a new residential colony coming up in the neighborhood which drilled around 10 borewells. The Resident Welfare Association(RWA) fears the borewell yield might reduce in the coming years. Thus they decided to revive the open well and use the well water for car washing, etc. 

 Asset Gardenia took the help from traditional well digger Venkatesh(Ph9786084818) and team to revive the well. The well was filled with soil and fallen stones for about 20ft. Well diggers hit water after removing 8ft of soil. After the cleaning, the soil(and a little bit of solid waste) is dumped near the Sewage Treatment Plant area. The fallen stones are reused to line the well. The old stones are reused to line the well and well diggers also used new stones to build the parapet wall of 4ft using the mortar. 

 

Cleaning of the well

Building parapet wall 

Recharging the well: The current water level in the well is very low(half ft water) though the RWA expected the well to yield a good quantity of water as they are located closer to the lake. RWA is planning to recharge the well using the STP's rooftop rainwater by extending the roof area. 

 Rainwater harvesting: 

A. Recharge wells: The layout has implemented rainwater harvesting by digging recharge wells in the storm water drains using surface runoff. The two borewells are recharged directly by making perforating holes to the casing pipe using surface runoff. The impact of direct borewell recharge has not been recorded. The recharge wells are 20ft deep and 4ft wide. RWA is planning to dig more Recharge wells.

Direct borewell recharge (closed with slab)

B. Rooftop Rainwater Harvesting: There are around 8-10 villas who have implemented rooftop rainwater harvesting. In the words of the manager Praveen, "RWH is very good as it supplements borewell water demand. If every villa implements RWH it will be very useful". 

Sewage Treatment Plant: Asset Gardenia Enclave has a Sewage Treatment Plant. The treated wastewater is used for gardening. In the words of the manager, the TWW is not meeting the gardening water demand. The sludge from the STP is used for gardening. The excess sludge is taken up by farmers for its use in agriculture. 

- Rakshitha M L