bridging the gap through participatory aquifer mappingv2
TRANSCRIPT
Bridging the gap through Participatory Aquifer Mapping
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… No other contemporary Indian city allows us to track the passage from small town to
metropolitan status within a few decades as well as does Bangalore 1
Executive Summary:
Currently groundwater abstraction, particularly in the urban context, is atomized. Combinations
of formal and informal openwell, borewell, groundwater and water treatment markets enable
citizenry to cope with formal institutional water supply & sanitation service inadequacies and
shortcomings. The greatest challenge of groundwater management is therefore the need to
embed management responses in the practices of this universe of dispersed actors. Yet our
understanding of Aquifers, the logical “unit” for groundwater management is very poor. While
administrative boundaries help us organize our governance on the surface, aquifers under our
feet don‟t necessarily follow any of these boundaries. How, then, do we evolve a way of
understanding our aquifers and enabling aquifer management responses based on this
understanding?
Bengaluru is a city that is no stranger to the challenges mentioned above. In fact various parts of
Bengaluru are currently completely dependent on private groundwater abstraction &
groundwater markets. It is in one such watershed - the Yamalur Watershed in the south-east of
Bengaluru that we – Biome Environmental Trust & ACWADAM with support from Wipro and
Map Unity, are attempting to explore an approach to help address some of the challenges
mentioned above.
Can the process of developing an understanding of the aquifer – drawing the aquifer map – itself
be driven by the participation of these dispersed set of groundwater actors? How can this be
done? If such an approach be evolved, can the communication of the science of aquifers & its
management to them then lead to forms of self-regulation in longer term self-interest on the part
of groundwater users? And is this a way to achieve aquifer management responses? What are
the services and enabling policy conditions for such an approach to bear fruit? These are some
of the questions this project wants to explore.
The preliminary understanding of the aquifer in the region has just started to emerge. Though the
results are not conclusive at this stage and would require continuous monitoring over the next
few years, the preliminary observations based on the static water level and geology explorations
show that the Yamalur watershed is primarily made of granitic gneiss. However, the entire area
exhibits different patterns of weathering and fracturing, laterally and vertically. In addition, the
water level data also highlights presence of three groundwater bearing zones. More information
1 (Coopers) Nair, J. (2005). The Promise of the Metropolis- Bangalore's Twentieth Century. Oxford
University Press. 2
http://webworld.unesco.org/Water/wwap/pccp/cd/pdf/history_future_shared_water_resources/water_man
Bridging the gap through Participatory Aquifer Mapping
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about the details of the groundwater bearing zones, their capacity would start to emerge in due
course of time.
We hope to strengthen the conversations amongst citizens on these stories, and bring
groundwater science and the spirit of public good & common property stewardship into these
conversations. And through this we hope to become a community that thinks not merely of “my
well” but “our water”. A software platform as a means of virtual place for making these
conversations, sharing of information and management of available information is also being
developed. Of course many questions still need answering as the project progresses and
limitations of the approach may emerge in due course of time. New questions are also expected
to evolve. Which institution will be the “owner” and “driver” of the approach, how will this
institution overcome its capacity limitations and how will this institution engage with civil
society to make larger citizen participation a reality are big questions that are clearly still open.
Bridging the gap through Participatory Aquifer Mapping
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Index
Page Number
Executive Summary 1
1. Introducing the project: A socio techno experiment 4
2. Crisis of groundwater scarcity 4
2.1. Situation in Bangalore 5
2.2. Situation in Yamalur watershed 6
3. Responses to the crisis
3.1. Institutions and the State 8
3.2. Responses by the judiciary 9
3.3. Adaptive citizen response 10
4. Participatory Aquifer Mapping (PAQM)
4.1. Partners in the project 11
4.2. Selection of project area 13
5. Intended objectives
5.1. Outputs 14
5.2. Outcomes 14
6. Process of engagement
6.1. Participatory method 15
6.2. Challenges encountered in the data collection process 16
7. Data Management 16
8. Interim results: Hydrogeology and the interpretation of data 17
9. Learnings 21
10. Potential for the future 23
Appendix
Appendix 1: Depth of Borewell in Bangalore 25
Appendix 2: Questionnaire 27
Appendix 3: Data collection methodology in detail 31
Appendix 4: Instrumentation 35
Appendix 5: Master Datasheet: Data management 37
Bridging the gap through Participatory Aquifer Mapping
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1. Introducing the project: A socio techno experiment
History is witness to the growth of civilizations and human societies around water sources2. Yet,
the rapid urban growth in unplanned manner has put an immense pressure on this precious and
finite resource. Moreover, the pressure is not only on the surface water source but also on the
groundwater. This resource scarcity has led people, communities, practitioners, administrators,
bureaucrats, and non-governmental organizations, researchers to take lessons from the past and
innovate for sustaining this valuable resource. It is in this context that this paper would elaborate
on about our engagement with Participatory Aquifer Mapping Project (PAQM). The location of
this action research project3 (called project henceforth in the document) is a 33.81 sq. km
catchment called Yamalur watershed which spans across Sarjapur road-Bellandur area of
Bengaluru. The project is a “socio - technical experiment” which envisages changing beliefs,
creating new conversations, revisiting the existing conversations around groundwater and not
only endeavors towards knowledge generation but also closes the feedback loop by taking the
understanding back to the people hypothesizing the larger change in awareness level amongst
citizens and the government. The latter sections would throw light on the motivation,
methodology and potential outcomes associated with this mapping program.
2. Crisis of Groundwater scarcity:
Groundwater is used by more than 1.5 billion urban dwellers worldwide, although there is no
systematic and comprehensive data to quantify trends (Foster et al, 2010). Population growth and
changing demographics (including migration from rural pockets), are possibly the main causes of
more and more people depending on groundwater in many parts of the developing world.
Groundwater resources will continue to form an important element in urban water supply given
that global urban population is expected to nearly double to 6.4 billion by 2050, with about 90%
of the growth in low-income countries and a predicted increase in the number of urban slum
dwellers to 2.0 billion in the next 30 years (Foster and Vairavamoorthy, 2013).
Furthermore, India‟s groundwater usage is significant with statistics available for irrigation and
rural drinking water supply. Recent data from various sources clearly indicates that „urbanizing‟
India also has a significant groundwater-footprint (Kulkarni and Mahamuni, 2014). Three recent
statistics point to how at least half of urban India clearly depends upon groundwater for its
various needs.
1. Averaged for 71 cities and towns, groundwater constitutes 48% of the share in urban
water supply (Narain, 2012).
2
http://webworld.unesco.org/Water/wwap/pccp/cd/pdf/history_future_shared_water_resources/water_management_early.pdf 3Action research project is a disciplined process of inquiry conducted by and for those taking the action.
Bridging the gap through Participatory Aquifer Mapping
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2. In India, 56 per cent of metropolitan, class-I and class-II cities are dependent on
groundwater either fully or partially (NIUA, 2005).
3. Unaccounted water in urban areas exceeds 50% according to the CGWB‟s report on the
groundwater scenario in 28 Indian cities (CGWB, 2011).
2.1. Situation in Bangalore
The situation is no different in Bangalore, in the state of Karnataka. The city has grown not only
with regards to population but also with the area. And the impact on the already scarce water
resource is tremendous. The city of Bangalore grew from about 5.7 million people in 2001 to 8.4
million in 2011. Earlier, the official city area was 226 square kilometres under the erstwhile
Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) which expanded to 716 square kilometres in 2007 with the
creation of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike4.
In January 2007, Government of Karnataka sent a notification for inclusion of 110 villages, 7
city municipal councils (Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Dasarahalli, Bommanahalli, Krishnarajapuram,
Mahadevapura, Byatarayanapura and Yelahanka) and one town municipal council (Kengeri) into
Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) to merge into Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
(BBMP)5. So, in addition to the normal population growth, high influx of people from outside
expansion of the city has added on the burden.
Population as per 2011 Census 8.4 million
Population in 2015 11 million
Demand @ 135 LPCD (Liters per capita per day) 1485 MLD (Million Litres a day)
Quantity of water sourced from Cauvery by BWSSB 1410 MLD
Leakages – 40% ~500 MLD
Groundwater to the rescue! ~575 MLD
Sewage generated ~1100 MLD
Public Sewage Treatment capacity 720 MLD
Actual Sewage treated @ Public STPs ~ 300 – 400 MLD
4 http://catalyst.nationalinterest.in/2014/01/04/the-growth-of-bangalore/
5 Groundwater, self-supply and poor urban dwellers: A review with case studies of Bangalore
and Lusaka, November 2010, Jenny T. Grönwall, Martin Mulenga, Gordon McGranahan,
International institute for environment and development
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Bangalore depends on Cauvery water supply from 100 kms downstream, groundwater through
borewell and tankers, etc. for meeting its water needs. The increasing population puts stress on
the resource making it insufficient for the ever growing population. Moreover, the dispute
between states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka around sharing of Cauvery river water makes the
resource even more inaccessible to many. The insufficient surface water supply results in
excessive groundwater extraction through borewell and tankers. With minimal or no recharge,
the groundwater level has gone down tremendously and so has depth of borewell dug in the city
(Appendix 1).
2.2. Situation in Yamalur watershed
The Sarjapur-Bellandur area is part of the newly added villages and hence is devoid of piped
water i.e. cauvery water supply and also underground drainage network. The primary sources of
water thus remain heavy groundwater dependent, some amount of harvested rainwater and
treated sewage water.
Factual details about the watershed:
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Name of the watershed Yamalur watershed
Number of microwatersheds 8
Total Area (sq. km) 33.81
Area under BBMP (sq.km) 23.55
Non BBMP area (sq.km) 10.26
Wards covered in the BBMP area 86, 87, 150, 174, 190, 191 and 192
Villages in the non-BBMP area Halanayakanahalli, Chikkanayakanahalli,
Hado siddapura, Chikkanalli of
Halanayakanahalli Panchayat
North-South distance (km) 9.5
East-West distance (sq.km) 7.13
Number of Lakes (known) 15
Number of open wells (identified) 15
Total Residential Population 117844 in the BBMP area and 5936 in the
panchayat area and floating population
Total Capacity of private STPs (MLD) in the
area
12
The total dependence on groundwater has led to significant falling in the borewell depths,
increased hardness of water, failed borewell, drying of borewells, etc. Moreover, the tanker
operators charge humongous amount for supplying water. The lakes in the area are facing
different issues like pollution, sewage inflow through stormwater drains, drying up,
encroachments to name a few. Based on the monitoring of water quality of lakes by Karnataka
State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), the lakes in the watershed fall in the Category D and/or
E which implies the water in the lake is suitable for fisheries, irrigation purposes only. In
addition, the identified open wells are either dried and/or filled with garbage.
All these factors strengthen the understanding that water levels in the region are going below the
desired depths and a serious water crisis looms in near future.
3. Responses to the crisis:
Bridging the gap through Participatory Aquifer Mapping
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3.1. Institutions and State
The response to the groundwater crisis in the past by the State comprise of promoting and
mandating rainwater harvesting, reuse of treated sewage, recharging of aquifer, etc. Yet, with
lack of monitoring and lack of stringent implementation, the achievement of desired objectives
seems to be a long journey.
Moreover, the traditional approach to develop an understanding about groundwater management
is based on understanding the hydrogeology of the region. The programs would be termed
aquifer management. In India, a national level program is initiated by Central Groundwater
board (CGWB) for aquifer management which shed light only at macro level.
Management through enforcing regulations is also a key approach taken by many government
bodies. In case of Bangalore, new regulations were introduced called The Karnataka
groundwater (regulation for protection of sources of sinking of drinking water) act, 19996 and
The Karnataka groundwater (regulation and control of development and management) act,
20117. The acts notified rules for location of drilling, distance between two adjacent wells,
introduced clauses for registration and punishments through fine for failing to comply with the
regulations. However, there are several hurdles in implementation as well as in the nature of law
itself which fail to effectively manage the groundwater resource.
The government had also set up a nine-member committee under the leadership of BN
Thyagaraja, ex-BWSSB chairman, for finding alternative sources of water considering the
surface water situation in the city. The committee recommended reduction in unaccounted water
supply in the city, revival of flow of water in the Arkavathi, rejuvenation of tanks and adoption
of rainwater harvesting to recharge groundwater, laying separate pipelines for potable and non-
potable water and drawing of water on short and long term basis from the Cauvery, reuse of the
sewage water, drawing water from more distant rivers like the Hemavathi, Yettinahole and
Sharavathi to the city, etc. Though some of the options are worth exploring, augmenting the
source of water by lifting from other far off places met with criticisms from several.
Furthermore, the issues with the traditional approaches have been that they are top to bottom,
macro level studies with little or no understanding about region specific aquifers. In addition, the
programs allot agency specific responsibilities without collaboration with community, different
agency (government and non-government) which makes it difficult to function effectively and
efficiently.
6 http://www.cseindia.org/userfiles/KarnatakaGWact.pdf
7 http://dpal.kar.nic.in/ao2011/25of2011(E).pdf
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3.2. Response by the Judiciary:
The role and response of judiciary, one of the three pillars of India‟s democratic system, is
critical while managing the water crisis situation. Abraham8 emphasises that one element
distinguishing Indian jurisprudence from other comparable systems is that it „bears testimony‟ to
the activist role of the Indian judiciary. Much of this has been possible thanks to the development
of public interest litigation (PIL), or social action litigation.
The deterioration of tanks or lakes in Bengaluru in quality and quantity forced both government
and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to save these water bodies. During 1985, the
Government of Karnataka constituted an expert committee headed by Sri N. Lakshman Rau to
examine all the aspects of preservation and restoration of existing tanks in Bangalore.
The Joint Legislature Committee set up under the chairmanship of MLA Mr. A. T. Ramaswamy
to identify the encroachment on government lands has reported 2,488 cases (1,848 acres) of
encroachments on lake/ tank areas in Bangalore Urban District (2007).
The Hon‟ble Supreme Court expressed concern regarding encroachment of common property
resources, more particularly lakes and it has directed the state governments for removal of
encroachments on all community lands.
PILs have been the most sought after way of approaching the higher courts for environmental
justice. Several public interest litigations concerning conservation of lakes were filed in the last
15 years before the High Court of Karnataka9. Owing to this pressure, the High Court
constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice N. K. Patil, to examine the ground
realities and to prepare an action plan for the preservation of lakes in the Bangalore city. The
committee submitted its recommendations in February, 2011. The report is a monumental work
which holistically looked at lake restoration and conservation of lakes in Bangalore.
Environmental Support Group (ESG), one of the pro-active NGOs in Bengaluru has been using
PILs as a way of addressing the issues. Their recommendations on wise use practices for the
protection, management and rehabilitation of lakes in Karnataka with special emphasis on
Bangalore and other urban areas have been recognized10
. Other organizations like Namma
Bengaluru Foundations also sought the PIL way for removal of encroachments from couple of
lakes in Bangalore11
.
8 C M Abraham, Environmental Jurisprudence in India, Volume 2 of The London-Leiden series on law,
administration and development, 1999 9 http://parisaramahiti.kar.nic.in/EMPRI-parisara-NL-issue-23-final.pdf
10http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/Lake_Rehabilitation_ESG_Submission2_HC_817_2008_
Compl_Feb_2011.pdf 11
http://namma-bengaluru.org/Save_agara_lake_pil.html
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There have been instances of stringent orders from the Upa Lokayukta of Karnataka towards
protecting the raja kaluves, removing encroachments, etc. Recently, Upa Lokayukta of
Karnataka ordered restoration of connecting channels12
.
The higher courts are also exerting authority towards restoration work and conservation of water
bodies across Karnataka: A recent example is of High Court order to Lake Development
Authority (LDA) for submitting a report of Bellandur and Agara Lakes and paying attention
towards the issues affecting the lake13
.
The PILs filed by the active citizenry concerned about water crisis situation in the higher courts
have in turn attracted the attention of the judiciary towards these issues. The judiciary in turn
directs concerned departments of the civic authority to take action against the issues.
3.3. Adaptive Citizen Response:
The water scarcity has pushed the builders and developers to adopt innovations in their services.
For instance, rainwater harvesting and sewage treatment plants which were thought to be
established as mandatory under the law are being set up by builders and developers as a necessity
now. Thus, a change in view was observed from complying with the law to necessity and
mandatory as a responsibility amongst the builder community.
A residential layout, Rainbow Drive in Sarjapur road, from their own impetus managed to
sustainably manage the water resources within the layout campus. The layout has completely
banned private borewell drilling, has installed a phytoremediation based sewage treatment plant
and has more than 350 recharge wells at community level and within storm water drains and
achieved 100% rainwater harvesting within their campus.
Furthermore, citizens voluntarily started coming together for resolving the issues around lakes.
Several citizen groups have been formed over last decade and continue to do so. The groups
include MAPSAS, Puttenahalli lake group, Whitefield rising, Agara lake group, etc. Each of the
citizen group works together with the civic agency, with other residents in the community, with
corporates, for maintaining the lake in best possible way.
The interesting set of responses from State, institutions, judiciary and most importantly active
citizenry has evolved over the years. The process has resulted in generating new ideas, new
information, a way of addressing the crisis situation.
12
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/rejuvenation-of-lake-halfhearted-work/article7094170.ece 13
http://bcity.in/articles/2015-04-22-hc-pushes-for-restoration-and-rejuvenation-of-agara-and-bellandur-lakes
Bridging the gap through Participatory Aquifer Mapping
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4. Participatory Aquifer Mapping (PAQM):
A critical part of the community is Corporate Sector, for which this Silicon valley is known for.
An amendment in the law14
emphasizes corporate sector to engage in socially responsible
activities as a part of corporate social responsibility.
WIPRO, being an active part of Bangalore‟s growth started conversations within their fence i.e.
within their campuses across India around water management. The discussions envisaged to
achieve water sustainability within the campus. This led to developing a responsible water
framework for WIPRO which helped in creating good practices like rainwater harvesting,
wastewater recycling; recharge wells, reusing wastewater, waterless urinals, etc.
The usage of the responsible water framework in the Sarjapur corporate office of WIPRO in
Bangalore created further discussions. The interaction helped in realizing that there are certain
factors, like groundwater which do not follow the land based boundaries like wards, districts, etc.
Therefore, a need was felt to extend within the fence discussions, outside the fence to the entire
community.
Data plays a crucial role in assessing groundwater resource and then in planning towards
managing the resource. However, groundwater resources continue to be a „blind spot‟ in urban
planning on one side and „Groundwater Management‟ on the other. City water agencies only
provide estimates of the groundwater that they „officially source‟ and „officially supply‟ with no
records of the amount of groundwater that is privately extracted in a city (Planning Commission,
2012). “The only water supply estimate for Urban India that exists is a gross guesstimate, made
on the basis of demand –based on present and projected population –presuming supply matches
demand” (CSE, 2012). Access to data on groundwater use or even availability in an urban setting
is thus the biggest challenge faced. Also lack of documentation about borewell from concerned
stakeholders/beneficiaries as well as lack of land exposures/quarries for making geological
inferences makes it difficult to develop an aquifer level understanding in urban areas at micro
scale. Hence, an exploratory experiment of participatory aquifer mapping (PAQM) was initiated
to understand urban aquifer in the Yamalur watershed.
4.1. Partners in the project:
WIPRO: WIPRO is a corporate partner for the project . Wipro believes that it must try to, and
can make (some) lasting impact, towards creating a just, equitable, humane and sustainable
society. And for them this is reason enough to act. WIPRO is also the patron for the project, and
14
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=104293
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thus, the study area for aquifer mapping project was decided to help understand the aquifer on
which WIPRO was dependent for its ground water.
ACWADAM: The team from this not for profit organization was invited on-board for their
expertise in groundwater at national level, aquifer mapping and modelling. Moreover,
ACWADAM also comes with an understanding of participatory mapping at rural areas of India
having worked with many farmers more than a decade.
MAPUNITY: The team from this organization was a natural choice because of their proficiency
in citizen engagement as well as ability to build map based platforms. The platform developed by
this team would serve the purpose of place for all the stakeholders. The platform would serve the
purpose in two ways: in initial stages of data collection for developing the aquifer map as
communication platform. In long term, the main purpose of the platform would be to enable the
people themselves to update the information pertaining to borewells, etc., share the events and
visualize the generated data for further decision making about groundwater.
BIOME: Biome Environmental Trust is an organization engaged in research, public education,
practice-to-policy bridging and policy advocacy in the areas of land-use & land-use planning,
energy, water and sanitation. Their work on Water Management in the area ensured that they
could bring on board local citizens/RWAs, other stakeholders mentioned above to contribute
information to this platform.
Involvement of stakeholder from the planning of the project to data collection was sought. The
following stakeholders were contacted for data collection:
1. Government institutions like CGWB (Central Ground Water Baord), DMG (Depeartment
of Mines and Geology), GSI (Geological Society of India), KSRSAC (Karanataka State
Remote Sensing Authority)
2. Schools – both private and government schools
3. WIPRO employees
4. RWAs (Resident Welfare Associations) of all forms of group housing (apartments and
layouts)
5. Service providers like Camera inspection providers, water quality testing labs, borewell
drilling agencies, traditional borewell diggers and tanker operators.
Types of Stakeholders Processes of engagement
& nature of participation
Contribution
RWAs, POAs individual
households and individual
citizens
Contribution of data
from their own records,
permission to install regular
monitoring devices, one
Data & stories about demand,
Bridging the gap through Participatory Aquifer Mapping
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Types of Stakeholders Processes of engagement
& nature of participation
Contribution
Time measurements onsite.
Engagement through events
/ Workshops. Creation of
“Citizen data Volunteers”
supply, wells/borewells &
waste water management
Skills such as documentation,
video/photo &
communication
design
Open source tools such as for
data collection & mobile apps
Schools & Educational
institutions
Can there be education
modules on groundwater
involving measurements that
get “embedded” for year-on-
year data
Business campuses and their
employees
Can leadership in
transparency
drive voluntary disclosure of
Data?
Service providers (Borewell
diggers, camera inspection
etc)
One-on-one conversations,
Events & workshops. They
are
Citizens too.
Data from their service
records,
knowledge of what‟s
happening
in the region
4.2. Selection of project area:
Traditional studies of groundwater involve the use of electrical resistivity surveys. Those done
by the CGWB involve the monitoring of 1 well for every 85 sq.km. In this case the monitoring
was to be done on a more micro scale and hence 100 wells were proposed to be monitored over a
33.81 sq.km area.
In the absence of any information about the extent of aquifer, it was important to identify the
boundaries within which groundwater data would be collected as part of the first phase of the
project. Since groundwater does not follow the boundaries that are normally assumed on ground
(like WARD boundaries) and surface water bodies follow the contours of the micro watershed, it
was decided to use the micro watershed boundaries as the preliminary boundaries of the aquifer
within which data would be collected.
For this purpose Survey maps (Map Series 57G and 57H from the Survey of India) as well as
the Micro Watershed maps (Watershed numbers : 4C1C8H2A to 4C1C8H2H) were got from the
Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Center (KSRSAC). Digitized maps as well as hard
Bridging the gap through Participatory Aquifer Mapping
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copy maps were procured for the same so as to enable overlaying the micro watershed
information on the existing maps.
5. Intended objectives:
5.1. Outputs:
1. Platform: The software platform would be a place where information on regulations,
service providers and FAQs around ground water is shared. The information about good
practices and success stories about groundwater, aquifer map generated based on the
collected data will be shared with citizens as a feedback and learnings from the
experiment.
2. Aquifer map: Understanding nature of aquifers and developing an aquifer map at the
Yamalur watershed level based on the conversations, and narratives of people
3. Communication material/tools: DIfferent set of communication materials and tools like
movies, videos, posters, flyers, brochures, etc. would be developed which would help in
increasing understanding of groundwater, aquifer, nexus between groundwater and
surface water, conservation processes
4. Engagement model with citizens: Being a participative experiment, there is engagement
with multiple stakeholders which includes house owners, residential welfare associations
(RWAs), borewell drilling agencies, traditional borewell digging community,
hydrogeologists, researchers, builders and developers, school children, and also
government agencies like CGWB, geological society of India (GSI), Department of
mines and geology, Karnataka state pollution control board (KSPCB), Lake Development
authority (LDA), BBMP, etc. Each interaction is different and has a unique way of
approaching each stakeholder. Documenting such interactions into an engagement model
for further reference or replication is a crucial output.
5. Scenario building and water balance: The groundwater model predicting the future
scenario on groundwater availability, potential recharge and discharge zones based on the
current understanding of the aquifer, the water balance, demand-supply is of immense
importance.
5.2. Outcomes:
1. Water literate citizenry: Through sharing of stories about successful groundwater
recharge, other good water management practices like rainwater harvesting, well
maintained and operated sewage treatment plant, alternative options for wastewater reuse
like flushing, gardening and drinking, etc. the assumption is that a citizens would become
more informed, empowered which would be useful for informed decisions within and
Bridging the gap through Participatory Aquifer Mapping
15
outside their apartment, layout, campus. The water literate citizenry then would be
champions for new practices.
2. Self-regulation: Managing demand becomes critical when one is laden with issues of
resource crunch, heavy dependence on groundwater, inability of institutions to address
the issues. The outputs like groundwater scenario and water balance would enable the
community to understand the facts about the watershed and enable setting up rules for
self-regulating the demand-supply within watershed.
3. Learnings for governance: The project will generate information, create new
conversations, volunteers, new partners which would be of help for governance structures
in the city for tackling the problems around groundwater
6. Process of engagement
6.1. Participatory Method:
As mentioned in the above section that given the nature of groundwater (local variances in
quantity and quality over time) as well as the fact that most existing studies were on a much
larger and regional scale15
, it was decided that the aquifer was to be studied at a scale that would
be relevant to and manageable by the people dependent on it.
Participation is defined as the process by which individuals, families, or communities assume
responsibility for their own welfare and develop a capacity to contribute to their own and the
community’s development. (Oakley and Marsden (1987))16
Participation has also been seen as
way of place making [a platform for stakeholders/beneficiaries].
Moreover, it has been suggested through numerous studies that participatory approach allows
multiple stakeholders to have a say which fits in the framework of democratic approach. It is
observed that being a democratic approach there is high potential for successful outcome.
The genesis of the project lies in the fact that the project was thought of because of the
conversations around the groundwater within the community. The curiosity because of lack of
understanding about groundwater and thus an inability to address the issue gave way to
interactions around it. The interactions with this group of people were initiated through long term
engagement by way of rainwater harvesting implementation, grey water recycling, etc. The
already established relationship with the community including the residents, real estate, tanker
operators, borewell diggers and drilling agencies proved beneficial for rolling out of the project.
The existing engagement around water issues culminated in a collaboration of sorts which helped
15
http://cgwb.gov.in/gw_profiles/st_karnataka.htm, and Memoir 79, Bengaluru - Water
Problems of the fastest Growing City of India, Geological Society of India 16
http://lyceumbooks.com/pdf/Effective_Community_P_Chapter_02.pdf
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in volunteering for data collection, data sharing, as well as data interpretation. Having know-how
about the existing questions and the emerging questions would be of help while taking the results
back to the citizens.
The following methodology was adopted as part of data collection exercise in the first year of the
project:
6.2. Challenges encountered in data collection process:
- Being an urban setting, information about groundwater accessible only through borewell
logs. Yet, the documentation about borewell drilling logs is not available. Hence, the
information is based on conversations with many people in the building for an accurate
borewell static information
- Difficulty in identifying the community and determining their role and method of
involvement
- The tape/ probe of the SWL instrument getting stuck in the borewell which in turn
rendered the instrument dysfunctional.
- Inability to measure water levels which were deeper than 500 ft due to a limitation in the
total length of the tape of the SWL instrument.
- Inaccessibility of certain borewells due to owners/ guardians not giving permission or
borewells being sealed under a concrete slab or lack of adequate opening in the top metal
cap of the borewell for the probe and tape to be inserted.
- Some of the information about rainfall, weather was not available for this region. This
information would be useful to understand the recharge potential of the area
7. Data management:
Immense amount of data generated about borewells throughout the first year is maintained as a
Master Database (Appendix 5). The database is seen as a way of organizing the collected
information in a manageable format.
As mentioned above, a software platform was decided upon as a mechanism for taking science
back to people through visualization. The platform is seen as a tool for communication with all
stakeholders including other researchers. The platform in its current form also aids in the
interpretation of data. The platform has the following key features
1. A spatial map that aids in the representation of data. The map visualisation can also be
used in the interpretation of data. In the next version map will have a provision to accept
data as well as help visualise the same
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2. Resources like questionnaires that are used for PAQM, presentations, posters, Yellow
pages that any user of the platform can look through for relevant information
3. A blog to update the current status of the project
8. Interim results:
Hydrogeology and the interpretation of data:
Out of many other sets of data being collected under the project, data on geology and borewells
is of critical importance for developing a hydrogeological understanding. Hydrogeological
studies involved mapping different geologies and different structures within them. The entire
project area being a granitic terrain, weathered zones and fractured zones were targeted.
Geological mapping was carried out based on planned traverses to map out rock exposures in the
area. Being an urban setting finding natural rock exposure is near impossible. Most of the land
cover is occupied by buildings and roads etc. Thus, traverses were targeted to road cuttings, rock
quarries and foundation dugouts to gather information on the subsurface geology.
Based on the data collected through traverses, individual borewells and static water levels a
mapping exercise was conducted. The mapping exercise helped in developing a geological map
of the watershed.
Following sections will throw light on inferences made based on the collected information till
now:
1. Geological map:
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The watershed is primarily made-up of granitic gneiss. However, the entire area exhibits
different patterns of weathering and fracturing, laterally and vertically. Sediment deposits over
the granites are also observed at places. These deposits are found to be thick at areas of
depressions where lakes are formed. In the southern part of the watershed hard rock is
encountered at shallower depths from the surface. In the central part of the watershed a mix of
sediments and extremely weathered rock is encountered at the surface which is about 5 meters
thick. These are underlain by weathered and intermittently fractured rock from ~ 5 meters to ~25
meters from the surface. Fairly hard rock is encountered below 30 meters in this region. The
northern part of the watershed has the lowest elevations than the other parts. A thick zone of
sediments and highly weathered rock is encountered up to 30 meters from below the surface.
Hard and fractured rock continues from below 30 meters.
2. Sub-surface section
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The data collected through field mapping and narratives was entered in to an excel sheet and then
through a graphics software and attempt to create a subsurface section for the watershed was
made.
The hydrogeological section above has been constructed using a combination of data on field
geological mapping and narratives on depths at which water was struck during drilling the
borewells. From data collected so far and making inferences from the above section we are able
to make out 3 distinct groundwater bearing zones. These zones correspond to confined aquifer
systems, but further data and analysis is required to confirm the same. Horizontal
openings/fractures and intense weathering along these fractures are characteristics of these
confined groundwater systems.
3. Water level contour maps
The above mentioned water level contour map was created from data on 68 borewells out of the
total 138 borewells surveyed so far as data for only those 68 borewells (green) was collected for
July 2014. The yellow areas in the map denote areas with shallower water levels from the ground
surface i.e. water levels are high. Those in grey denote areas with deeper groundwater levels
from the ground surface. The blue dots in the map are prominent locations for reference. The
interpretations from the map are not conclusive for the following reasons:
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● The water level are not representative for the entire area as data from available 68 out of
the 138 borewells was used
● Interference from nearby pumping borewells could also affect the levels from the
monitoring borewells
As more data would flow in from a more structured monitoring setup, maps like these would be
critical in understanding the aquifer systems in the project area.
4. Topographical contour map:
A topographical map of the project area is made using elevation points from google earth. The
surveyed borewells also have been marked on it. This map would get refined and with addition
of finer data points. An attempt would be made to create conceptual layouts of the aquifer
systems with respect to such kind of a topographic map in 3-dimension.
The above mentioned maps/analysis is work in progress and generated from limited data
collected so far. The inferences from the same at this stage are helpful in developing and refining
the methodological approach towards further data collection. Limited inferences can also be
drawn on groundwater bearing zones which would be further refined to delineate aquifers.
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The aquifer map developed is in preliminary stages however, a definite need has been felt to
create vocabulary around aquifer, issues about groundwater.
9. Learnings:
PAQM is referred to as action research project, the definition below would help clarify the
meaning:
Participatory Action Research is collaborative research, education and action used to gather
information to use for change on social or environmental issues. It involves people who are
concerned about or affected by an issue taking a leading role in producing and using
knowledge about it17
.
Thus, in the context of PAQM, all the participants mentioned in the document are actors with
different set of contributions working towards a common goal of efficient groundwater
management.
❖ Importance of collaboration and building relationships
Throughout the project, right from conceptualizing to data collection, planning, the community
has been involved. The groups were directly or indirectly engaged through active or passive
participation. This helped in facilitating the data collection and analysis process. The most
important learning though has been that these partnerships have helped in sharing of the good
practices within the community, has evoked an interest among the citizens, has increased the
awareness level about the issues which will definitely help in taking the responsibility to solve
the issue. Thus, the change from community as researched to community as researchers is
slowly beginning to happen.
Moreover, the importance of collaboration was realized while the actual process of data
collection began. The stakeholder like citizens with whom an initial engagement was already
established was easier to build relationships with. On the other hand, service providers like
tanker operators, borewell drilling agencies proved difficult to initiate conversations with. This
difference in level of difficulty created challenges in the data collection process. For instance,
similar quality and quantum of data with deep engagement would not be obtained across the
watershed. However, this helped in pushing the project team towards realizing the importance
of deep engagement and pursuing the idea of the project across different stakeholders.
❖ Multiple sources of information collection
The project helped in giving us a close look at the governance issues in the groundwater
management as well. When one looks at water security in Bangalore, there are a multiplicity of
regulations and government bodies, which look at different components. For example, the
17
https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/beacon/PARtoolkit.pdf
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BWSSB and the Mining & Geology department are involved in the groundwater space, but the
registration of water tankers comes under the purview of the BBMP. Other sources of water
which complement groundwater, like Sewage Treatment systems come under the regulations
of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. Rainwater harvesting systems, which are
mandatory also, come under the purview of the BWSSB. But providing approval for house
plans, of which rainwater systems are an integral part, lies with the BBMP.
Barring the difficulties involved in getting an access to data and governance issues, a positive
aspect that came out of it was engagement with different government agencies and exchanging
ideas with them which will hopefully create learnings for the institutions.
❖ Communication:
One of the learnings was that the analysis of the collected data needs to be shared with the
participants. Establishing the relationship with the participant is not the end but a means to
build it and it can be continued through by closing the loop or establishing a feedback
mechanism.
There were couple of ways thought of as a mechanism of giving the feedback viz. through
visual aids, a software platform, establishing relationship and through aquifer map vocabulary.
Software platform, as mentioned above, is thought of as a place of interaction i.e. a gateway
for conversation around water as well as communicating the progress of project. The software
platform will be enhanced to accept data from various stakeholders as well as semi
automatically visualise/interpret the same. However, in the first year the process faced
technology constraints while putting up content on the software for better visualizations, 3D
visualization as well as lack of complete data posed problems. The next years of the project
would focus hence on creating value around the software platform so that stakeholders find it
as a useful source of information and sharing.
While the end of the activities of the first year have helped come up with a preliminary version
of the aquifer map, the two subsequent years are planned to help to refine the map as well as
help refine the process for data collection and interpretation. Along with the map of the
aquifer, a need has been felt to model the aquifer which will take into account the water
demand on the aquifer, the rainfall and runoff from the watersheds and the discharge of
treated/untreated sewage water within the watershed. At the same time, a need was felt to
improve upon the watershed and aquifer level understanding which is currently lacking.
Developing a vocabulary around aquifer similar to Edwards Aquifer in Texas would help in
contextualizing the problem in this watershed.
The entire efforts emphasizing on the communication would be focus in the coming years of
the project.
❖ Sustainability and Scalability
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While this project has lots of new experiences to share, biggest challenge is to sustain the
project. There are multiple factors that contributed to the positive response till date and they
are:
- Active citizen participation:
The community has active groups working on rejuvenation and maintenance of lakes, waste
segregation and management,roads and transport which made the community a good recipient
of the project.
- Engaging with governmental agencies:
It has always been a fruitful interaction with government agencies for data collection, for their
feedback on the project activities and their suggestions and recommendations for
improvement. This engagement is a beneficial activity which would be a prime driver for
taking institutional ownership of the information, analysis and further direct engagements with
the citizens.
One of the critical activities that happened in the first year of the project was establishing
connect with KSPCB. As mentioned in the context setting of the project, the watershed is
devoid of UGD; hence all the apartments have to follow zero discharge norm of sewage
disposal. In other words, it means that sewage generated within the campus has to be reused
100% within the campus. However, the fact of the matter is that such reuse is not practically
possible, and hence apartments are left with huge amount of excess treated water which is
either let into stormwater drain or disposed otherwise. Therefore, a school of thought is
working on the idea of allowing the excess treated water into the lake which will help in
maintaining the water balance of the lake as well as into recharge well which will help in
groundwater recharge. The significance of this meeting with KSPCB and getting the consent
of such idea would prove beneficial in making the watershed water sustainable. More and
more engagements with different government agencies like BWSSB, BBMP or other such
authorities would help in institutionalizing the project and probably an owner of the software
platform.
10. Potential for the future
This experiment in participatory aquifer mapping is very much “work in progress”. However,
the learnings and experience thus far suggests that this approach holds interesting and important
potential for water management and governance in the context of a growing city. These
potentials can be examined along two dimensions.
Groundwater governance: This approach makes the conversation with the groundwater user
the the central medium of knowledge generation and flows necessary to enable “good behavior”
for groundwater management. It recognizes that the knowledge of groundwater users about
groundwater is critical in shaping their behavior as users. It therefore attempts to create a
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comprehensive picture of the groundwater resource in the city through catalyzing people‟s
participation by sharing of their knowledge of it in the forms of stories, practices and data. It
then attempts to bring the science of hydrogeology to interpret these contributions of the people
and arrive at an understanding of the aquifers of the city – an understanding currently wholly
missing. Further, it attempts to communicate this understanding of aquifers to groundwater
users from a “what is larger public good” and “groundwater as a common property resource”
perspective – and nudges people‟s practices towards self-regulation through this communication.
It therefore creates a pathway to help move groundwater users from a mere “self-supply”
scenario to a “self-regulate” scenario. The project, while still is work in progress, has begun to
demonstrate that in times of crisis, people do respond to knowledge inputs and show behaviors of
self-regulation in the urban groundwater context. This holds potential for a new paradigm of
groundwater management for the city- a paradigm in which communication with citizenry to
enable self-regulation is an equally important approach to groundwater management rather than
relying only on the traditional “police and command” approach through legislation, licensing and
prohibition to control groundwater exploitation.
Geographical expansion: While this project has focused this region with no institutional water
or sanitation service provision, it has the potential to grow to encompass the entire city. The
project has created (and continues to create) tools, and an understanding of the broader processes
that can catalyse and garner citizen participation. It is also creating scenario building tools to
answer critical questions of demand for water, availability of groundwater and role of
piped/institutionally supplied water, generation of wastewater and role of lakes & tanks. In the
context of India, growing Bengaluru is representative of many growing cities – this approach
along with the tools it develops therefore holds potential to help manage water in these many
cities. It can help shape a “city smart with its water”.
Of course many questions still need answering as the project progresses and limitations of the
approach may emerge in due course of time. New questions are also expected to evolve. Which
institution will be the “owner” and “driver” of the approach, how will this institution overcome
its capacity limitations and how will this institution engage with civil society to make larger
citizen participation a reality are big questions that are clearly still open. Bengaluru‟s civil
society and business community that has undertaken this innovative project hope to help find
answers to these questions and more.
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Appendix 1: Depth of borewells across the city
Source:
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=
Page&Skin=pastissues2&BaseHref=BGMIR/2013/04/10&PageLabel=8&EntityId=Ar00100
&DataChunk=Ar00801&ViewMode=HTML
Sr. no. Name of the area Depth of borewell
(ft)
1. Kormangala 800
2. HSR layout 1200
3 Malleshwaram 350
4. Indiranagar 600
5. Sarjapur 1500
6 Devanahalli 1200
7 Dasarahalli 1200
8 Yelahanka >1000
9 Marathahalli >1000
10 Hosur road 1500
11 Kanakpura road 1400
12 Hoskote 1300
13 Parappana agrahara 1250
14 Begur 1200
15 BTM layout 1000
16 Whitefield 1000
17 K R Puram 1000
18 Banaswadi 1000
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Sr. no. Name of the area Depth of borewell
(ft)
19 J P Nagara 800
20 Banashankari 800
21 C V raman Nagara 800
22 Uttarahalli 750
23 Hulimavu 750
24 J C Nagara 650
25 Rajrajeshwari Nagara 650
26 Ulsoor 600
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Appendix 2: Questionnaire
Participant Details
Participant Type (Apartment/ Household/
Institution) and Name
Point of Contact Name
Contact Details (Email/ Phone)
List of Questions
1. What is the total depth of the borewell?
2. What is the diameter of the borewell casing?
3. What is the casing material and the depth of the casing?
4. What is the level at which water was stuck during the drilling of the borewell?
5. What was the stable water level after the drilling of the borewell?
6. When (year) was the borewell drilled?
7. What is the rating of the pump that is inside the borewell?
8. At what depths was the change in color/ size of the soil strata observed during the drilling
of the borewell?
9. What is the current discharge rate of water from the borewell?
10. What is the quantity of water that is extracted on a daily basis?
11. What is the total duration of pumping on a daily basis?
Detailed Questions
1. What is the diameter of the borewell casing? The casing is the metal/ plastic section that
is generally visible to some extent above the ground. Please refer picture for better
understanding.
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2. What is the total depth of the borewell? This refers to the total depth to which drilling was
done. Please refer picture for better understanding
3. What is the casing material and what is the depth of the casing? (the casing material could be
Galvanized Iron or PVC and the casing would be inserted till a depth where a substrate becomes
hard rock) Please refer picture for better understanding
4. What is the level at which water was struck during the drilling of the borewell? (During the
borewell drilling process, water could have been struck at multiple depths with varying yields.
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The borewell driller would have given this information) Please refer picture for better
understanding
5. After the drilling of the borewell was complete, what was the stable water level? (During the
borewell drilling, while the rig drills through hard rock substrate, it will come across fissures/
cracks in the rock through which water is discharged at high pressure into the borehole and due
to which the water level rises up quite significantly in the borehole. After 3-5 days of drilling, the
water level would stabilize and this is the static water level)
6. When was the borewell drilled? (If not the exact date, the year of drilling is good enough)
7. What is the rating of the pump that is inside the borewell? (rating could be 5 HP, 10 HP etc.)?
Please describe the type of pump used as well (submersible single/ multistage etc)
8. At what depths was the change in color/ size of the soil strata observed during the drilling of
the borewell? (For instance the top 10 -20 feet would be the top soil and would be dark reddish
brown color while at depths beyond 20 ft, the color could change to light brown or greyish. Any
pictures taken during the drilling would be awesome)
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9. What is the current static water level in the borewell. (We have a specialized equipment to
measure this? We will discuss with you the possibility of coming over and measuring your
borewell‟s static water level)
10. What is the current discharge rate of water from the borewell (in litres per minute)? Please
describe the change in yield over a period of time as well
11. What is the quantity of water that is extracted on a daily basis?
12. What is the total hours of pumping on a daily basis?
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Appendix 3: Data Collection Methodology in detail
Being a participatory project, the intent was to try and get citizens to contribute data about their
borewells. Hence to trigger this, a questionnaire was developed with pertinent questions on
borewell logs, use, current status (Appendix 2). The questionnaire also had some literature
demystifying some of the scientific terms used with respect to the borewell data. For instance,
the questions focussed on the
- Depth of borewell
- Depth of casing
- Levels at which water was stuck during drilling
- Current discharge rate (litres per hour)
- Capacity of pump (HP)
- Current extraction (litres per day)
- Details on the geographical strata that was encountered while drilling
An important aspect of Participatory design is engagement of multiple stakeholders. To allow
participation of the diverse group of people, several innovative ways were introduced.
Crowdsourcing:
- This questionnaire was circulated to a large group of citizen audience through informal
interactions in various settings. At the commencement of the project, a tour of the water
management initiatives of Rainbow Drive was conducted to a group of citizens from
different residential communities in and around Sarjapura road which served as a
platform to discuss the Aquifer Mapping project and distributing the questionnaire.
- Another novel approach was to engage with a group of students from Christ University to
do door to door data collection. It was indeed astonishing to note how much data could be
collected in a single day by a group of students.
- WIPRO is also engaged in another program called Earthian through which it encourages
and recognizes participants from different schools and colleges across India for their
project in water sector broadly. A couple of students who joined as interns with BIOME
helped in crowdsourcing water quality data for borewells and lakes in the watershed. The
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samples were tested for different physical parameters in-house. This helped in collecting
water quality data at the start of the project which could serve as a baseline.
- The questionnaire was circulated among WIPRO employees whose place of residence
came within the eight micro watershed boundary. This was identified by collating the pin
codes of employees and picking out the ones which were within the watershed boundary.
A member from Biome was instrumental in getting borewell related data by calling and
explaining the project and the usefulness of their borewell data for the project.
Social Media:
- A platform which served as an introduction ground for the questionnaire was the online
Bellandur forum Facebook group. This group has many individuals active in dealing with
water related issues and thereby were one of the early participants of this project.
- A Facebook group named Open well of India and world was started to make a repository
of open wells around the world. This was to understand the presence of open wells, the
functions these wells used to play and in some cases still play.
- Bellandur ward Google group also served as an important contributor for networking
with the residents in the ward which helped in data collections and also for
communicating the project progress with the larger community
On-site through field visits:
- While the questionnaire helped in collecting mostly static/ historical data about the
borewells, another important piece of data that was required for the project was the static
water level of the borewells. This water level needed to be taken every quarter and this
was done for as many borewells as possible in the available time window.
- In quite a number of cases, the borewells were identified while on the field which
included borewells part of construction sites, abandoned borewells on road sides and lake
beds, functioning panchayat borewells and borewells of tanker operators. Of these, the
borewells part of construction sites and tanker operators contributed a treasure trove of
data as these were mostly newly drilled (in the case of construction sites) and the
construction site managers/ tanker operator owners had good knowledge about the
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borewell log data and current performance of the borewell as this was going to be their
main source of water during construction/ revenue stream respectively.
- Another important piece of data collected was Water Quality which can serve as another
proxy for finding the connectedness of the aquifer. This was done for a select few
borewells (whose outflow point was easily accessible) and a set of lakes falling under the
micro watershed area. The borewell water quality parameters were monitored with the
help of a hand held tracer which could measure pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS),
Salinity and Electrical Conductivity. For the lakes, a sample was taken from the lakes and
parameters like Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, Phosphates, Iron and Calcium were
measured. This was done with the aid of a chemical testing kit.
- Pump test: This test involved the borewells to be pumped initially for a period of 150-180
minutes and the drop in the water level was measured at predefined time intervals. Also,
the discharge rate of the borewells was measured at the start, midway and end of the
pumping. Since most of the borewells selected for the test did not have a flow meter, the
team had to rely on methods like catching the water from the borewell delivery pipe in a
bucket whose capacity was known and measuring the time taken for the same. This was
extrapolated to calculate the yield in litres per hour. Most often than not, the static water
level used to stabilize by the 150 minute mark. After this stabilization, the pumping was
halted and the rise in water level in the borewells was recorded at predefined time
intervals. This was similarly done for a period of 150-180 minutes till the water level
stabilized.
Events
- The connection between groundwater and surface water is important to understand.
Hence, several visits to different lake sites as well as to different sewage treatment
methodologies were conducted. The agenda was to introduce the current situation around
lakes, the different technologies and at a broader level understand the lake ecosystem.
- Research suggests that at a community level if a report card is shared among people
based on certain criteria, ranking one community compared to other, it could serve as a
motivation for others to improve. World water day at Rainbow Drive layout was to
showcase different pioneering activities undertaken by the residents of the layout and
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inaugurate the newly established Phytorid sewage treatment plant. World water day at
Kasavanahalli lake was on the theme of water and literature.
Key resource person:
The data collection for borewell information, static water level, pump test was structured by
identifying contact people in apartments and gated communities that came under one of the eight
micro watersheds, getting the go ahead from them for visiting the place
Secondary literature:
- Reports from Department of Mines and geology for Bangalore urban district level
understanding about water quality through their observation wells and lakes, borewell
depth, etc.
- Reports from Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) for number of sewage
treatment plants (STPs) and their capacity in the watershed. Capacity of the sewage
treatment plant would be used as a proxy for water demand.
- Census 2011 population from Panchayat office
- Detailed project reports for development and rejuvenation of lakes in the watershed for
understanding the existing scenario at the lake site as well as for future development
plans
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Appendix 4: Instrumentation
A. Static water measurement sensor
Static Water level (SWL) measurement required a
specialized instrument which was a combination of a
spool, a graduated tape wound around the spool, a
probe at the end of the tape and a circuit with a buzzer
and LED (Light Emitting Diode). When the probe came
in contact with water inside the borewell the circuit got
completed emitting a sound from the buzzer and also
activating the LED. Thus, the static water level of the
borewell at that point in time was found out. In
addition, the latitude and longitudinal coordinates of the
borewell was recorded with a GPS (Global Positioning
System). This was done to geographically locate the borewell in the map based platform.
B. Weather station:
Rainfall, humidity, pressure information is useful for understanding the recharge potential of the
area. Though localized information was not available, the project made an investment for
installing a weather station in one of the communities we are engaging with regularly. The
weather station is locally made Yuktix (a small Bangalore based start-up).
The system has two main components –
1. The sensors for Atmospheric Pressure, Humidity, Temperature and the rain gauge
2. The controller which quantifies the data recorded by the sensor and broadcasts it to a cloud
based server.
The Rain gauge is a tipping bucket type system. Each tip accounts for a 0.01 inch rainfall and the
number of tips every three minutes is recorded by the controller. The controller also polls the
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three other sensors every 15 seconds and the moving average of the sensed values of
Temperature/ Pressure/ Humidity is calculated and broadcast to the server every third minute.
The broadcast is done with the help of a sim card embedded in the controller.
C. Handheld/Portable meters:
❏ pH meter
❏ TDS meter
❏ Electrical conductivity (EC) meter
❏ Salinity
❏ Dissolved oxygen (DO)
D. Water quality testing kits: JalTara
Portable water quality testing kits named JalTara developed by a Delhi based organization
Development Alternatives were used to conduct water quality tests in-house. The tests included
chloride, fluoride, Nitrate, hardness and bacteriological test.
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Appendix 5: Master Data Sheet: Data Management