BIOME Team Meeting on Feb 16th 2022

Hey! Here are the cheerful stories from BIOME team meeting which was held at Lalbagh on 16th February 2022. It was the first offline team meeting post two long pandemic years. We had a new team member Neelima, Srinivas who said we had met three times offline and corrected himself to online, Shivanand travelling for 30 kms, Rakshitha staying a previous day in pg et all... 

Lalbagh Botanical Garden was chosen for the offline meeting as all of us would get to see the old open wells which have been rejuvenated from us with the support of the donors. Of course, Suma is our Lalbagh person:) She anchored the rejuvenation process and she walked us through the wells with Well Digger Ramakrishna and team. When we BIOME are together who could stop us from capturing us together; the joyful faces:)

Shubha says "Folks let us get a good picture with whatever poses and combinations for our display pictures:) Suma is our formal or informal Photographer nahi Photo instructor;) She says "all of you keep your right leg front and hold your hand behind, look away from the cam" and what not! 

Look, here we go with our group picture, a community pic with our beloved well diggers

Ramakrishna is full on with the technical details on the well rejuvenation. Shivanand and Himanshu would always had a question more to ask and our RK would start answering by saying Saaaar en gotta ;)

Now look carefully - eyes wide open. All of these are from RK's pocket, the ones he found in the Lalbagh well during the rejuvenation. The oldest being 1930 and the latest being 2011. 

 

Ramakrishna is sharing his experience in well digging and gratitude towards Vishu sir.

The care taker Irappa alias Munikrishna is at the lake from 1979 narrates the memories of wells at Lalbagh beautifully.

We found a shade under a very famous 200 year old tree. Shubha started the formal meeting from give the gist of all the projects that BIOME is engaged. All the team members spoke about their projects and anything and everything which is close to their hearts and energizes the team. Himanshu's Frisbee from the last meeting was well cherished. Finally, we all were more than happy for chasing our passion for water and thanking BIOME for flexible work schedule and most efficient outcomes. Shubha missed Avinash and Vishu sir at this moment. 

Hold on, our meeting is followed by yummy lunch at MTR. Kosambari, Masala dosa, Poori, Bisibelebath, curd rice, fruits with classic ice cream, beeda et all to treat our taste buds and overfull our tummies. 

The plate and tummies were full yet our untold conversations finding way for the next meeting....

- Rakshitha 

Access Livelihoods enterprise visit to Cubbon Park

Access Livelihoods requested Biome for an enterprise visit for their batch of students from the postgraduate course in Social Entrepreneurship (Transforming India Initiative) to understand the issue of water sustainability, as part of their reflection workshop. The visit was conducted at Cubbon Park on March 10, 2022, and was anchored by Suma Rao of Biome. 

Water Management in Ittina Anai Apartment

Ittina Anai is located in Kempapura, Yemalur, Bellandur. It was constructed in 2006. The apartment spreads in an area of 1 acre and 13 guntas; it has four blocks with 72 flats and about 168 residents. Ittina Anai does not have a BWSSB Cauvery water connection. The apartment is not planning to get the Cauvery water connection as they perceive the advance deposit is higher and the quantity of water supply is not adequate. 

The “2500 Recharge Wells for Bellandur” campaign also focused on reusing the treated wastewater to reduce the stress on freshwater demand. Ittina Anai apartment stands as the best instance for refurbishing the Sewage Treatment Plant and using the Treated Wastewater (TWW) for all purposes including drinking. They also harvest every drop of rainwater falling in their rooftops and the pavements in sumps and recharge wells.  

 

Use of treated wastewater for potable purposes 

Ittina Anai apartment had a Sewage Treatment Plant which was set up by the builder which followed the technology of the Activated Sludge Process. The capacity of the STP was 40 KLD. The builder had also provided a dual plumbing system where treated wastewater was reused for flushing and gardening. Eventually, the in-flow into the STP exceeded its built capacity and treatment efficiency was reduced. This caused the issues of turbidity, odor, color etc. The residents moved away from using TWW for flushing. The excess treated wastewater was led into stormwater drains. 

The RWA became part of the “2500 RWs for Bellandur” campaign and put efforts in the direction of water conservation. The RWA came forward to refurbish the STP. The STP was upgraded to an SBR (Sequential Batch Reactor) and increased its capacity to 90 KLD. The TWW is Cleaner, odor-free and crystal clear and the STP is operated to its fullest capacity. The TWW was again reused for flushing, floor cleaning and gardening etc. Mr Aditya Rao from the RWA took a lead in resuing the TWW for potable purposes through Tertiary treatment with RO.  The TWW is passed through the Water Treatment Plant and is currently being used for potable purposes. Initially, the residents were not convinced with the idea and gradually accepted it after they witnessed the clear water quality. Currently, there is no excess TWW generated in the apartment, it has achieved Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD). 

 

Rainwater harvesting 

The apartment did not face any water scarcity. The RWA came forward to dig the RWs for future water sustenance. The rainwater from all 4 blocks and the paved area is being directed to storage sumps and six recharge wells placed strategically throughout the apartment. The 4 recharge wells are 4 ft wide and 34 ft deep and the remaining 2 recharge wells are 5 ft wide and 25 ft deep. The apartment is dependent on 2 borewells; one is the major borewell(one was decommissioned) which was yielding 1.5 inches of water. After digging the recharge wells the yield has gone up to 3.5 to 4 inches. 

“We have achieved ZLD where not a drop of water comes into our campus and not a drop goes out of our campus!! By revamping and upgrading our STP we have experienced that we are able to reuse all our TWW and donot discharge even a single drop into the drains. This has further reduced our dependence on our Borewell and has delisted in us using the Borewell lesser and thereby saving about 25% of our electricity costs by way of running the Borewell for fewer hours. The recharge wells have increased the yield of the Borewell from 1.5 to 3.5 inches and this too means that we are getting more liters of water in lesser Borewell run time. Our water table rose from 180 feet to 80 feet in just one season of rains. We did our RWs in 2018-19 under the 2500 RWs challenge in Bellandur.”                                                                                            - Treasurer, RWA

Biome Trust gets second place in FICCI Water Awards!

Biome Environmental Trust registered for the 9th Edition of the FICCI Water Awards under the NGO category. The case study we submitted was titled ‘Million Wells for Bengaluru’ campaign. Shubha made a presentation to the jury that was led by Dr Mihir Shah. Biome Trust was awarded joint second place in the NGO category. 

FICCI organised the 7th India Industry Water Conclave virtually on March 2-3, 2022. The award ceremony was held during the inaugural session of the Conclave on March 2. The video of the ceremony is here 

The awards ceremony starts at 1:09:28 - and we received our award at 1:17:11.

On the second day, Shubha was invited to speak. The video of the second day is here 

Her talk is at 3:48:41. 

We thank our funders, donors, partners, and well-wishers for their unstinting support!

Open well in Bengaluru South

 A resident of Bengaluru South chose not to drill a borewell to construct a new house. He learnt the groundwater table is high and would hit water if he digs an open well. He engaged well digger  Venkat (Ph: 93536 39969) and dug an open well. The well is 2.5ft in diameter. The well hit water at 3 ft, and was dug up to 15 ft depth.

Rejuvenation of an Old Open Well in Forest Department park, Madiwala Lake

1.0 Overview and Background

Madiwala lake is situated in BTM layout in East Bangalore. It is one of the biggest lakes in Bangalore spread over an area of 114.3 hectare. Legend has it that the lake was built by the Cholas in a day. It is a home to many migratory birds. The lake comes under the administration of Karnataka State Forest Department which carries out the routine maintenance of this lake. There is a children's park as well.

Next to the forest Department office there is an open well which receives rooftop rainwater. The depth of the well is 9ft. The well is 10ft diameter and 9 ft deep and acts as a recharge well. There is water at 3ft blg. So far, It has not had water in summer.  This well was deepened further so that it receives water from the aquifer and has water through the year, and can become a source of water for the plants in the nursery.

Location of Madiwala well, 13th Cross, 29th Main, BTM 2nd Stage, adjacent to Madiwala Lake

Open well, before rejuvenation 

2.0 Work done

The depth of the well has been increased by adding a smaller well of 5’ dia and 13’ deep, and thereby increasing the holding capacity of the well from 20 KL to 27 KL . 

Ramakrishna and team worked on this well, over 3-4 days. The smaller well was dug and 14 rings were added subsequently. The surrounding paved area water has been sloped to ensure water goes into the silt trap before entering the well. The well grill has been painted and a motor connection was given to draw water. 

Deepening of the well with an inner well of 5ft dia and 13’ depth

 

Left: Well after the concrete rings have been added, and jelly around the side. 

Right: Alum added to the water, and submersible pump installed with pipe connection

 

Grill painted and the well covered 

3.0 Observation

In one day, the water level came up to 5ft bgl. The water after 24 hours has recharged 20 KLD. 

Left: Rejuvenated open well with silt trap. Right: Pipe provision for pumping water for use in the gardens

Visit to Syngenta India Lmt, Nelamangala

Syngenta Global is an agricultural R & D company providing technology to the farming community focusing on increasing productivity, reducing input costs and increasing the return on investment. Syngenta India Ltd has branches across the country. Rakshitha visited Syngenta India Lmt located in Nimbenahalli village, Nelamangala. It is an agricultural farm spread across 30 acres and started around 15 years ago. It works on producing Seeds, Seed Care, Crop Protection, Crop Nutrients and Yield Protection. It is a 30 acre campus. 

Map of Syngenta farm

Images of Snygenta farm

Water management 

Water is a key requirement of Syngenta as farming happens in 30 acres throughout the year. The farm has 2 borewells which were drilled when the farm was started 15 years ago. These are around 1000 ft deep. There is one failed borewell. The farm did not face any water crisis till. In the words of the manager, RWH was implemented recently to have water security in the long run. 

Functional borewell

Defunct borewell

Recharge wells and Percolation pond

Well digger Raghu Muniyappa has dug 8 recharge wells and 1 stonelined percolation pond in the farm. Raghu Muniyappa made the concrete rings himself on the farm and it took about 25 days to complete digging Rws and percolation pond. These RWs are dug in a channel which carries stormwater. There are 4 RWs dug in one channel and 4 RWs near poly houses. There are 8 small bunds dug along the channel to reduce the speed of water flow and to collect the silt at the bottom of the bunds. These bunds will help in passing only clear water to the recharge wells. The overflow from the RWs are connected to the percolation pond. The RWs are 4 feet in dia and 20 ft deep.

Silt settling bunds in the channel

Recharge well near poly houses

Percolation pond (left) and recharge well (right)

Raghu Minyappa has dug 2 silt traps to a RW and a percolation pond of 3 ft dia and 4 ft deep to further avoid the silt accumulation in the wells. The percolation pond is stone lined. It is 40 ft in length and 40ft wide. The depth of the step well is 20 ft. There is an inner well of 4ft wide and 4ft deep inside the percolation pond.

The percolation pond

Rooftop rainwater harvesting: 

There are four poly houses on the farm. Rooftop water from one of the poly houses is connected to the dead borewell directly. The inlet is given to the borewell by making a 4 inch hole to the casing pipe at a depth of 3ft from the ground level. 

Rooftop RWH implemented to the Poly house 

The manager is expecting positive results in the coming years. 

Listen to Raghu Muniyappa here:

- Rakshitha