Team meeting at Cubbon Park

Cubbon park - also a venue for a team meeting. Given that all members of the BIOME water team stay in different parts of Bangalore and commuting can be quite a pain we try and meet up at different locations each time. This time the meeting was at Cubbon Park. Started off with some frisbee, then some hearty konkani lunch brought in a steel carrier by colleagues, a short perchance video shoot for all of us to be on Udaya Music TV. And yes the "meeting" did happen, There was an agenda, discussions, minutes and action items

Open well off Sarjapura Road : 4ft in diameter and SIXTY feet deep

This open well off Sarjapura Road is 4ft in diameter and SIXTY feet deep. It has just been dug. The rings and slabs are still to be placed. At a depth of 60ft it is possibly the deepest well for a 4 feet diameter or possibly even the deepest open well in the area for any diameter. Pedanna and team have dug the well. The soil shows beautiful colours by depth - distinct shades of yellow, white and red. Pedanna has kept the soil in different heaps for us to inspect. The soil is crumbly and certainly good for groundwater recharge. This well however has been dug for extracting water - and hence the depth. Currently there is no water in the well and so it will be used for groundwater recharge. Wish there was a better camera/camera person to highlight the depth of the well. The picture does no story telling. Standing next to the 60ft deep well can bring a strange feeling to your stomach and to your heart

A garland of 8 recharge wells for each borewell

A garland of 8 recharge wells for each borewell. These are 2 borewells in a farm off Sarjapura Road. Storm water runoff is redirected into 8 recharge wells (of diameter 3ft and depth 25ft ) dug around each of the borewells . The highest density of recharge wells that you will see in 150sqft

Interaction With School Students in RWH Theme park

As part of engagement with school students on various issues of water conservation and implementation of Rain water harvesting in schools, Biome was involved in handling one the sessions for the students which was conducted by Reap Benefit at Rain water Theme park in Jaynagar. The students were passionate and enthusiastic after seeing different methods involved in Rainwater Harvesting as showcased in the park and had plenty of questions on its usages and effectiveness. It was good experience as part of our schools project where we have implemented rain water harvesting for five government schools and interact with private school students to know there keenness and interest to learn and help these schools in better water management.

Rainwater Harvesting : Plumber Training Movies

Good RWH training movies made by BIOME alongwith LabourNET. Do watch the movies and share freely. These are available in multiple languages. You can watch all films in any language of your choice











In English

1. Principles of Rainwater Harvesting
2. Storing in a Rain Barrel
3. Storing Rooftop rainwater in an Underground Sump
4. Groundwater Recharge

In Kannada

1. Principles of Rainwater Harvesting
2. Storing in a Rain Barrel
3. Storing Rooftop rainwater in an Underground Sump
4. Groundwater Recharge

In Tamil

1. Principles of Rainwater Harvesting
2. Storing in a Rain Barrel
3. Storing Rooftop rainwater in an Underground Sump
4. Groundwater Recharge

In Telugu

1. Principles of Rainwater Harvesting
2. Storing in a Rain Barrel
3. Storing Rooftop rainwater in an Underground Sump
4. Groundwater Recharge

In Hindi

1. Principles of Rainwater Harvesting
2. Storing in a Rain Barrel
3. Storing Rooftop rainwater in an Underground Sump
4. Groundwater Recharge

Open Wells in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand

Multi hued stone lined well

Open wells seem to be a aplenty in Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) though not many people seem to know of the existence of these wells. The rivers Suvarnarekha and Kharkai border the town of Jamshedpur and water supply is from dams upstream which possibly leads to lack of knowledge of the presence of open wells

In many places water is available at 20ft below ground level. Many open wells have been abandoned or been closed lately though. Many of the still surviving wells - and those that still have water seem to be in temples and in places in the peripheries of the town . The wells in the temples are mostly perennial and water from the wells is used for all religious purposes and in certain cases even for drinking. Within town limits this water is also carted away for supply to some people who do not have access to piped water.

While water is available at 20-25ft in some places, in some others it is not available even at 250ft. There are possibly multiple aquifers in the area. Borewells are also prevelent - but the deepest seem to be only about 300ft. The borewell rigs come from Ranchi and the operators are from Tamil Nadu in certain (or possibly most) cases. Are they from Trichengodu too ? Do these borewell diggers from TN go to Jharkhand too ?   The most often quoted reason for digging a borewell while an open well already exists was that the open well would dry up for 2 months of the year where as the borewell is perennial. Some of the owners do not recollect how or why they totally stopped using the open wells. The open wells even have fishes in them.

In places where the wells are lined with stone we get to see the geology and rocks found in the area. The rocks are in various hues of brown and grey unlike the rocks that we see in the wells in and around Bangalore. There are wells that are lined with cement rings too

Open Well in Shitala Mandir, Sakchi, Jamshedpur

Water being carted away - for drinking

Open Well in Shiv Mandir, Baridih

Well that has been closed - kuan maidan

Water used for washing - Birsanagar

Pretty hand pump

The 2 gentlemen who took me out well hunting

Open Well in Prabhadevi, Bombay

An Open Well in Prabhadevi, Mumbai - not far from the Prabhadevi temple. Had gone to the Prabhadevi temple with the intent of seeing the open well in the temple. However I could not get access to it. On looking around I observed that the roads had numerous water tankers unlike the other localities in Mumbai that I had been to. Unlike Bangalore, these tankers read that they carry fresh water from wells. With some asking around I come upon this really beautiful open well in a quaint old home - which seems outworldly in the otherwise modern and high rise city. Many thanks to Manoj for showing me around(His father owns the house and the well). There are some old men lying around in a charpoy beside the well. By Manoj's estimates the well is more than 100 years old. They clean it up every once in a while. All year round fresh water flows in to the well. You can very clearly see the inflows. There are some fishes that breed in the well. Manoj and family are vegetarian. Some neighbours have come and released the fishes in the well and some fishes have always been there. There are other wells in the area he tells me - but people have either closed them or put concrete slabs on top. Manoj thinks a well needs to breathe and hence does not want to put a slab on top. He is not worried that kids may fall in - their entire family has grown up around the well. Manoj also directs me to the open well in Shivaji park which I am unable to get to for lack of time + losing my way. And that for another Bombay trip. Just this small detour to Prabhadevi makes the trip to Bombay seem even more delightful