On World Water day, citizens open their doors to water conservation

In a citywide campaign on water conservation on World Water Day, 22,23rd, citizens participate in lake photo trails, showcase measures in their homes and apartments, visit water parks and engage in discussions on saving the precious resource.
By: Sattva Media and Consulting Pvt. Ltd.
 
BANGALORE, India - March 23, 2013 - PRLog -- This World Water Day, 22nd and 23rd of March, saw Bangalore citizens come together to demonstrate the huge role they can play in transforming the city into a water-conscious one. From interactive panel discussions to apartment and home open houses showcasing rain water harvesting and recycling solutions and lake drives, citizens showcased solutions that they have implemented and the impact of the same - on the water table, the community, the culture and water consciousness of the city.

Catch Every Drop kickstarted with an engaging panel discussion, “Water Matters”, on World Water Day, 22nd March, that hosted eminent water experts and practitioners like Rohini Nilekani of Arghyam, Vishwanath Srikantaiah, the ‘Zenrainman’ of Biome Environmental Solutions, Sekhar Raghavan from Rain Centre, Chennai and Usha Rajagopalan of Putenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust at the Max Mueller Bhavan. “We need to bring back the culture of the open well in homes and apartments”, said Vishwanath. MN Thippeswamy, ex-Chief Executive Engineer at BWSSB, and an expert who has pioneered several water initiatives in the State, said that we are running out of water faster than we are running out of oil. He spoke about the importance of waste water recycling and better management of existing resources.

Sekhar Raghavan of the Rain Centre Chennai recounted how one good monsoon after Chennai had implemented rain water harvesting brought a phenomenal increase in water table levels in the city. “Temple tanks where people used to play cricket filled up with water from beneath!”, he said. “If we all do our bit in our homes and for our own localities, the city will be taken care of very well!”, said Usha Rajagopalan of the Putenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust, talking about the power of citizen participation in preservation of lakes and water bodies.

On 23rd March, 8 lakes around the city participated in the Lake Diaries – an early morning photography expedition that was led by professional photographers from Korkai. The lake trail at Somasundarapalya lake in HSR layout saw the active participation of 35 citizens, who discussed the history of the lake, the progress of the restoration work and the challenges ahead. “It is our responsibility to give a better world to our children. They need to see these lakes with water, they need to experience sparrows around them like we have. We started with 1 tanker a couple of years ago in this area and today, we are heavily dependent on them. We need to save water now,” said Abhishek, a resident of HSR Layout for the last 7 years and a participant.

Kavita Arora, resident of Veracious Landsdale behind Forum Value Mall, had very low expectations from Varthur lake prior to her first visit today along with a small group of 8 participants. “I thought I’ll just take a walk in a polluted area and I was expecting garbage everywhere but to my surprise Varthur Lake still is one of the most beautiful lakes I’ve seen in Bangalore. Even though the sewage inflow problem is there, it’s still managing to serve the nearby local residents for cattle feed. The lake trail today definitely aroused our curiosity about its history and potential even though it was only our first visit”, said Kavita who runs a citizen action group called Bangalore Social Ecology.

Select photos from the lake trails will become part of a film, “The Lake Diaries” that highlights Bangalore’s lakes and the need to conserve them. Photos will also be showcased as part of an exhibition on Water and the city that will be conducted in Bangalore in mid-April.

The apartment open houses, 15 of them, opened their doors to showcase what systems they have put in place to conserve water in their localities. From layouts that reuse their treated water entirely to water their landscapes to apartments carrying out borewell and groundwater recharge from the surplus rain water harvested and homes that do not take any water from the BWSSB, the innovation, commitment to resource management, cost savings and impact is very tangible. “We must think of how we can live with 2 sources of water - rain and used water, as groundwater is fast depleting”, said Rajesh Shah, whose home has bath water going to water the plants and trees, and washing machine water recycled back to the flushes.

“Community participation and interest is key to maintaining any sustainability initiative. This is a great opportunity for us to even explain to our own residents how much we have done,” said Sheetal Kumar, part of the Residents Welfare Committee at Balaji Pristine that has successfully cut its water and energy bills through harvesting and recharging all sources of water at their 132 apartments complex in Whitefield.

‘Walk in the Park’ sessions were organized at Vishweshwarya Rainwater Harvesting Theme park in Jayanagar where participants witnessed live demos of water saving devices. In addition, BWSSB organized guided tour visits to the sewage water treatment system in Cubbon Park and Waste Water Treatment Park at Yelahanka.

“This theme park for rain water harvesting is one of its kind in the country, demonstrating all methods that can be used to save water. There are over 10,000 families in Bangalore today that are living on highly reduced water needs, are successfully harvesting the rain and living without borewells. We should all go out and see these success stories in action,” said Vishwanath, in an interaction organised by the BWSSB at the RWH theme park.  

Overall, the tours and trails in the city organized a day after World Water Day helped residents in the city get a practical know-how on conserving water bodies, rainwater harvesting, sewage treatment systems, water recharge and saving. The time is now to do our bit, to catch every drop.

The Alternative has been running a 6 week campaign on sustainable water conservation called Catch Every Drop with support from Arghyam (http://www.arghyam.org/) and in collaboration with India Water Portal (http://indiawaterportal.org/) and Biome Environmental Solutions (http://www.biome-solutions.com/). (http://www.biome-solutions.com/)

More at www.thealternative.in/ (http://www.thealternative.in/cat)worldwaterday

Contact: aarti.mohan@thealternative.in, +91 98454 984045
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Source:Sattva Media and Consulting Pvt. Ltd.
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Tags:World Water Day, BWSSB, Water Saving, Borewell, Citizen Engagement
Industry:Water
Location:Bangalore - Karnataka - India
Subject:Events
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