Occupy Goes Global
Bengaluru
In 2020 OCC! expanded its scope and encouraged students to explore local initiatives in their city, resulting in entries from various locations. Here below you find the entries from Bengaluru
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List of experiences: TOTAL RESULTS 2
A Million Wells for Bengaluru
Aditya Singh
Where is this grassroots initiative implemented? Who are the promoters? Who are the beneficiaries?
Biome Environmental Trust is a non-profit organization led by Vishwanath Srikantaiah (a water conservation expert), which launched the ‘A Million Wells for Bengaluru’ movement in the city of Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. This movement aims to have one million functioning open recharge wells in the city, allowing the recharge of aquifers and raising the underground water table.
A majority of the water requirements of Bengaluru are currently supplied by the Cauvery River flowing 100km south of the city. Cauvery water is pumped up about 300m (984ft) to reach the city, requiring large amounts of energy. The borewells in the city (although there are no official measures) provide 600-700 million litres of groundwater, making up about 35- 40% of the city’s water requirement.
Historically, open and shallow recharge wells (presently, only about 20,000 to 30,000) that access higher aquifers were the providers of water to the citizens. However, they have now slowly been replaced by borewells (presently, about 500,000), which are narrow boreholes that exploit and drain the lower aquifers (now gone down to about 1,800 feet).
In terms of rainfall, only about 3-10% of the city’s rains percolates into underground aquifers naturally based on hydrological patterns. However, land begins to ‘crust’ upon urban development and construction, bringing down the percolation to 0-1%. Precious rainwater flows down buildings and tarred roads as surface run-off, choking sewers and inundating low-lying areas (leading to urban flooding). Moreover, these problems have worsened over several decades due to climate change.
‘A Million Wells for Bengaluru’ aims to provide a solution to these problems, and in the process, secure livelihoods for the ‘Mannu Vaddars,’ a local well-digging community native to the region. The overall percolation rate of rainwater can be increased (up to 50-60%) using open recharge wells. Vishwanath calculates that 1 million wells will be enough to solve issues of water shortage in the city. If even a portion of the 3.5 million litres that falls onto each acre of land in the city as rainfall percolates into the ground, water requirements would be met without supply from the Cauvery River. Additionally, water from open recharge wells is more affordable (around 1% of the price of Cauvery water) than from borewells and the Cauvery, only being pumped up a mere 6m (20ft) to the surface, as opposed to a 100km length and 300m height.
‘A Million Wells for Bengaluru’ has been supported and promoted by native and local communities, institutions, citizen groups, and governmental agencies, given the wide-ranging benefits of the movement that can be observed by all citizens of the city.
Open recharge well in the city
Image courtesy of Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
How does this initiative engage with climate? Does it tackle mitigation, adaptation, both, or other dimensions of climate change?
The movement is directly mitigating the impacts of climate change. Vishwanath explains that rainfall patterns in Bengaluru, like many other cities, have changed dramatically over time with intense showers within short durations, leading to larger volumes of water being dumped over the city very quickly, and in unexpected months.
The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) has set up about 100 weather stations across every other ward in the city. Biome Trust, along with the KSNDMC, has been tracking the change in rainfall patterns due to climate change and has found an increase in the intensity of rainfall from 60mm per hour to about 180mm per hour. Additionally, the pockets of the city that were previously not getting enough rain are getting higher amounts now.
With recharge wells, rainwater can be routed into the shallow aquifers more efficiently, enhancing the groundwater levels gradually by mimicking the natural patterns observed decades ago. The recharge wells capture the high intensity of rainfall instead of allowing it to flood. The collected water then percolates into the ground and recharges aquifers, which are water-bearing formations that exist 10-100 ft underground, and are naturally replenished during rains.
Water from an open well requires 0.1 units of energy for every thousand litres of water supplied, in relation to the 1.5 – 1.8 units from deep bore wells and 2 units for Cauvery water. Therefore, recharge wells provide water that is 20 times more efficient compared to Cauvery water, with their carbon emissions being 20 times less.
Hence, the movement is engaging directly with the climate, responding to the vagaries of rainfall, and mitigating urban flooding, both consequences of climate change. It is recharging the groundwater table and lakes of the city through increased percolation to solve issues of water scarcity. Finally, open wells also reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions in providing water to the city, both important facets of climate change.
What are the main objectives? What are the main values?
For ease of understanding, the main objectives of this movement could be categorized into social and practical ones. Vishwanath explains that one of the larger social objectives is to provide and secure livelihoods for the well digging Mannu Vaddar community, native to Karnataka. This would allow higher rates of education within the community, giving the future generations the power to decide whether they would want to pursue well digging, or another field of their choosing.
According to Vishwanath, an important social objective is to raise awareness about the presence of open recharge wells in the city, the potential of shallow aquifers to sustain water requirements of the city, and the role of local communities in their revival. Within this, the hope is to build a water culture in the city where local citizens take collective responsibility for managing groundwater through community participation and the mainstreaming of bottom-up and traditional water harvesting practices.
Old stone-lined well recharged with rainwater
Image courtesy of Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
A practical objective of the movement, Vishwanath describes, is to bring up the water table in the city, where open recharge wells (and borewells) would then be able to supplement water requirements. With this, it was also important to ensure the productive use of rainwater and to bring awareness to the importance of rainwater harvesting practices to capture rainwater.
Another practical objective of the movement is to engage with the climate and mitigate the impacts of climate change. As explained previously, through recharging of shallow aquifers, open recharge wells will be able to prevent flooding, reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, and solve issues of water shortage in the city, by ensuring water security.
Rooftop rainwater recharging a well
Image courtesy of Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
What is the timeline? Are there already visible effects?
Understood as a movement instead of a project, ‘A Million Wells for Bengaluru’ was launched in 2015. As it is providing livelihoods, it does not follow a regular project timeline and is more open-ended in its scope. Since it is not possible to track every well that has come up in the city, there cannot be a definite start time to the larger process, given that well diggers have been digging wells for centuries. One million wells are an aspirational goal that has been set for the city and is not the end goal since the movement should continue to grow with urban growth and rising populations. However, the hope is to reach one million wells by 2025.
There are several instances at an individual, institutional and public level that highlight the visible effects of the increased awareness about the open recharge wells. Institutions have taken the initiative to set up recharge wells themselves. Through the restoration of 4 open recharge wells within the Wheel and Axle Railway Plant campus in the city, the wetlands around the wells were revived. With a variety of birds coming to the wetlands, one can observe larger environmental impacts of engagement with the wells. Most importantly, the wells now provide the plant with 300,000 litres of water, and they no longer require water from the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). Similarly, in Cubbon Park, one of Bengaluru’s largest open spaces, defunct open recharge wells on restoration provide 100,000 litres of water to the park.
Who are the actors involved? What is their background?
As per the Memorandum of Understanding signed for the movement, Biome Environmental Trust provides the technical support for it through consultations with architects, civil and mechanical engineers, and urban planners; Friends of Lakes is the implementation partner that organises voluntary community engagements to clean the city’s lakes; India Cares Foundation is the enabler taking care of fundraising. All investments made within this movement are by individuals, institutions, and communities across the city, all crucial actors for the success of the movement.
Vishwanath Srikantaiah (of the Biome Environmental Trust) has been working in the water sector in Bengaluru for 34 years. He has travelled all across the world (to Iran, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Brazil, Chile, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, etc.) to study wells. He explains that large governmental infrastructural projects provide one type of solution for the water shortage, which occurs in the city every 20 years since the 1850s, due to its expansion. The other way is for the local citizens to participate in the solution through community involvement and action.
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) offer policy support to the movement. Vishwanath, who has been a proponent of rooftop rainwater harvesting (RWH), has been working with BWSSB, helping them write the bylaws (based on the rainfall patterns in the city) to make rainwater harvesting compulsory in the region. Water from RWH can be filtered and supplied into open wells, which would then recharge the aquifers, supplementing the piped water supply of the city.
Mannu Vaddars digging a recharge well
Image courtesy of Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
The Mannu Vaddars (a sub-caste of the Bhovi community) have been historically digging tanks, lakes, and wells across the country for over 1000 years. They have traditionally found work given their knowledge of digging and maintaining wells. However, they are now running short of livelihoods since people have started drilling borewells instead of open wells. Biome began seeking out the traditional well diggers that constitute 750 families living in and around the city. Their skills and knowledge of the region’s hydrogeology (aquifers, pre-existing wells, soil types, presence of rocky layers) have been pivotal in achieving the goals for this movement.
Which limits (institutional, physical, social, etc.) does it encounter?
There are a few limitations that the movement encounters. The first social limitation would be the resistance towards understanding the impacts of climate change on the ecosystem. There can also be a lack of responsibility among citizens towards recognizing the importance of rainwater harvesting and open recharge wells as required infrastructure systems.
Topographically, certain areas in the city may not be conducive for recharge wells because of hard layers of rock and clay, creating an ecological limitation in specific locations. Additionally, appropriate mapping techniques like Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing are required to understand geological features to decide the areas where open wells could be feasible. However, these technologies are not available with civic and administrative agencies, constituting a severe institutional limitation.
Are any shortcomings or critical points visible? What other problematic issues can arise from its implementation?
Since the recharge wells utilize bio-mimicry to imitate natural ecological processes, no negative effects have been observed since they are holding the water that would have been held by an un-built site.
One crucial point for the entire movement is that native well-digger communities must be provided with employment opportunities within these projects. It would be antithetical to employ modern technological methods, and people that do not belong to the Mannu Vaddar community for digging wells.
Mannu Vaddars cleaning and desilting a recharge well
Image courtesy of Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
How would it be potentially replicable in other settings?
The movement can and has been replicated in several other locations based on the specific needs and context of the region. Open wells, if recharged, can provide arsenic- and fluoride- free water to the regions where contaminated water is currently being consumed.
Vishwanath mentions that the aim of the movement is that it should not matter if the Biome Trust is involved in its continuation. Biome does not claim credit for the movement and considers their responsibility to provide an aspirational goal, and to bring awareness, encouraging individuals, communities, and institutions to dig wells within their localities, and share their stories with the Biome Trust, if they wish to do so.
Several cities such as Hyderabad, Belgaum, Sangli, Tiruchirappalli, Chennai, have launched their own movements or similar initiatives. Additionally, The Ministry of Urban Development has been in correspondence with Biome to officially incorporate this movement into the Jal Shakti Program under the Smart Cities Project for 500 cities across the country.
The revival of the shallow aquifer is being replicated – leading to an all-India movement, where the open well, as a representative of the shallow aquifer is reaching every village, town, and city in India.
Is this initiative conducive to broader changes (law, institutional arrangements, long term sustainability or community preparedness, etc.)? If yes, which?
The movement has highlighted the importance of engaging with local contexts and features, talking to people whose livelihoods depend on the water (farmers, fishers, well-diggers), learning from their experiences, and involving them within the solution. The mainstreaming of this practice leads to better community preparedness for mitigating the effects of the climate crisis.
Individuals, institutions, large and small establishments, gated communities, have all taken up initiatives without the involvement of Biome. The movement has enabled individual citizens and communities to take action, brought larger awareness to how they can be involved within climate change action, which need not necessarily be at an administrative level through large infrastructure projects.
MLAs and Corporators (elected officials) across the city have started planning and making recharge wells in their respective constituencies and zones. The Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, C.N. Ashwath Narayan, initiated the digging of 100 recharge wells in the Malleshwaram constituency. The State Horticultural Department has taken this initiative to all the parks in the city including Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, which now has 500 recharge wells. The Bellandur Development Forum has planned to dig 2,500 wells in low-lying areas around Bellandur Lake that get inundated with rainwater during the monsoon.
A crucial part of the movement has been the mandating of climate change action by the government through the rainwater harvesting bylaws, highlighting how sustainable practices could be institutionalized through legislation and policy.
References
Interview conducted with Mr. Vishwanath Srikantaiah
Coushik, R. (2020). The Indian megacity digging a million wells. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201006-india-why-bangalore-is-digging-a-million- wells
Gatty, H.R. (2020). Two years, one lakh wells: Can “Million Wells” movement help sove Bengaluru’s water crisis. Retrieved from https://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/million-recharge-wells-biome- friends-of-lakes-rainwater-harvesting-43978
N.A (2018). Urban Waters Bengaluru: Million Wells. Retrieved from http://bengaluru.urbanwaters.in/million-wells/
Padre, I. (2019). A million wells for Bengaluru. Retrieved from https://www.civilsocietyonline.com/cover-story/a-million-wells-for-bengaluru/
Priya, L. (2019). One Million Wells for Bengalurur: Meet The Group Saving The City from Day Zero! Retrieved from https://www.thebetterindia.com/173853/bengaluru-ground-water-crisis-well- digging-day-zero-zenrainman/
Ramchandran, S. (2019). TEDdxBangalore: The Answer to India’s Water Crisis: Community. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxlKrJcg8KU&t=22s
Srikantaiah, V. (2020). TEDxMBSITM: A city and its waters. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=velaVjFWv1A&t=48s
Bengaluru I BLR – 2200
Maazen Ahmed ( author & illustrator)
I – PLACE /pleɪs/
wʌn I believe an island is what it was called back then.
tuː Yeah, a land mass completely surrounded by water – but smaller than a continent. And ˈeɪʒə-saʊθ would _______classify as artificial. Man-made. It was made to be a perfect circle.
θriː I see. A circle was probably to cut costs, no?
tuː Right. Isolating the entire coast would have been much more expensive.
θriː Good move. There would be too much empty space if we had done that.
tuː Well maybe now it would be. But our population doesn’t fluctuate like it did before the 22nd century. I’d _______skimmed through some records in the Archiving Department the other day. Back then there was so little _______space, they’d start building vertically. Towers they were called. And sky…scrapers? Yeah, sky-scrapers.
θriː Like… to scrape skies?
tuː Who knows.
wʌn They didn’t have enclosures back then. I’m sure buildings could be as tall as they wanted them to be.
θriː Right, right. Everything was open. I’m pretty sure people used to travel on air to get everywhere because _______of that. The museum had an “aeronautics” exhibit last week. They seemed really dangerous to me. Hard _______to believe hundreds of people would be in them at once.
wʌn No, no, they didn’t always use planes. That was for when they had to transport large groups of people ______from one sector to another. Like ˈeɪʒə-saʊθ to əˈmɛrɪkə-nɔːθ. Or whatever they used to call those places ______back then.
θriː Transport… people? To different sectors? For what?
wʌn Ask the expert.
tuː The old sectors – ‘countries’ they were called – used to be very different from each other. And there _______were a lot more of them. We have 15 sectors now, but there were hundreds of countries. They all had _______different leaders, different languages, different currencies, different climates, everything. Some were _______probably better off than others, so people would tend to move around. Planes were just the quickest _______way for them to do so.
wʌn Guess they hadn’t come up with their ocean-lines yet. Or would they travel above water?
tuː They’d use the ocean for transport sometimes. On things called “ships”. But yeah, normally above the _______surface, not underwater for the most part. Mostly for moving goods – cargo – from one place to another.
wʌn Well then, at least that’s the same.
tuː Eh, people would travel on ships too sometimes.
wʌn What, why?
tuː Before the 20th century, that was the only way to get people across the ocean. After the 20th century…_______they traveled on them for leisure, I guess. Neither ships or planes were a clean way to get around _______though.
wʌn Hah. And people still wonder why we’re in these little bubbles of ours.
II – LIVING /ˈlɪvɪŋ/
“And now, on to the weather! We’ve been seeing quite the downpour for the past few days from six fifteen p.m. to nine forty-five p.m. – as per the Ministry of Agriculture’s schedule. But good news is, tomorrow’s marks the last evening of rainfall for the year! Starting Monday, these quiet greys are going to be turning a clear blu-
…
“It seems we have breaking news. There has been a minor road accident on H-14, leading to significant traffic pileup till the H-23 intersection. We have ˈoʊməɹ at the scene to provide a detailed description of the incident. Over to you ˈoʊməɹ.
Thanks ʤuːn. For those of you just joining in, I’m here at H-14 where there seems to have been a single-vehicle collision on the road. The officers inspecting the incident are reporting that the driver of said vehicle has no visible injuries. It seems the driver had lost control of his car and had crashed into the guard rail on the left side of the road. We will be able to provide more details on the victim shortly.
Furthermore, this accident has created a significant traffic jam all the way until H-23. Since this route is exclusively used by employees from the Ministry of Health, individuals that were scheduled to leave their homes at any time past 8:36 a.m. will be caught in this congestion, and will be facing delays in their reporting time at the Ministry.
We have just received notice that the Ministry of Health has carried out the relevant calculations, and are providing nine minutes of relaxation for each employee’s reporting time. This is to accommodate the necessary adjustments to each vehicles speed, and potential rubbernecking. Any delays beyond that will be added on to the end of the concerned employees shift.
And… we have just received an update on the victim of the car crash. It seems that the police are facing delays in identifying the driver. This has led authorities to assume that this individual has refrained from consuming his daily supplements as per the Ministry of Health’s instructions, and is therefore not visible on today’s census records. This is further demonstrated by the driver’s ‘sickly appearance’ – to quote the police report – and a lack of attention on the road. The number of days that the victim has avoided his supplements is also unclear, but considering the driver’s condition, authorities claim that it has likely been weeks. The police are now investigating the reason as to why the victim avoided his daily supplements.
And that brings us to the end of our report. We will now return to our regularly scheduled news. Back to you ʤuːn!
III – CONDUCT /ˈkɒndʌkt/
Identification Code: AS – 072 378
Welcome to your Annual Abidance & Regularity Examination. During the A.R.E we will be documenting your pulse and respiration rate for each of your responses. The testing will end if there are noticeable oddities in your vitals.
As directed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, we will begin the testing by reviewing your consumption of the supplements provided to you by the Ministry. Please respond to each of these prompts in as succinct a manner as possible.
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Have you been receiving your daily supplements at 7:04 AM each morning?
Yes.
And have you been consuming said supplements as per direction from the Ministry of Health and Welfare?
Yes.
Have you experienced any negative reactions to the supplements provided, that may have led to failure or inhibition in consuming said supplements?
No.
Are you aware of any individuals within your household, neighbourhood or workplace that have failed to regularly consume the supplements provided to them?
No.
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Thank you. We will now move on to occupation-centric questions. The testing will end if you fail to answer any questions in regards and in relation to your position. Please state your place of work.
Ministry of Health. Department of Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical Division.
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Thank you. It seems that your respective Board have had some concerns in regards to a group of employees within your department. Your responses for this portion of the examination will be recorded and forwarded to the relevant authorities. Once again, the testing will end if there are noticeable oddities in your vitals.
Please provide a brief report of your divisions progress over the last quarter.
“Um… we had received records of people in ˈjʊərəp-wɛst and ˈjʊərəp-nɔːθ having a sort of allergic reaction to the supplements we’ve developed. We’ve made the necessary modifications, so it shouldn’t be an issue anymore.
Oh we’ve also worked with the Ministry of Housing and Home Affairs in əˈmɛrɪkə-saʊθ to rework the Population Control Scheme for each sector. Our sector is now going to have four natal dates instead of three from now on. They’ve now been set on the fifteenth of January, April, July and October. We’ve adjusted the supplements accordingly. We will see effects by the October period.
There was also discussion on whether or not people reaching the age of seventy should…pass away on the same days – as in the fifteenth of those same four months. The initial plan was to carry out the passing and the necessary procedures at the end of those same months. But in the end, they – we, decided that there’s no need to set aside a different day for those that are passing away.
This way we won’t have to worry about the effects of a population spike for those fifteen to sixteen days.”
Have you completed your report? The Board of Directors also mentioned completion on the ‘Five-Stages’ project. Please continue your report.
“Oh…yes. The five stages have been decided. We’re still yet to modify the supplements further. But it is almost complete. The body should adhere to the appropriate stages, as long as one takes the supplements as directed. These changes will also likely come about by the October period.”
A notable number of employees within the Department of Biotechnology have failed to recall each of the five stages and the corresponding ages correctly. Please dictate the five stages. The testing will end if you provide an incorrect response.
“Right… the stages are: birth to five for ‘preliminary development’; five to twenty for ‘education’; twenty to fifty- five for ‘employment’; Fifty-five to sixty-five, education – or ‘mentorship’ rather; and sixty-five to seventy for ‘retirement’.”
.
.
.
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Thank you. The relevant authorities are satisfied with your responses. We will now move on to a series of question regarding your ‘home-life’. Once again, the testing will end if there are noticeable oddities in your vitals.
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