bridging the gap through participatory aquifer mappingv2

Bridging the gap through Participatory Aquifer Mapping

1

… 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


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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.


3

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


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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.

http://webworld.unesco.org/Water/wwap/pccp/cd/pdf/history_future_shared_water_resources/water_management_early.pdf

http://webworld.unesco.org/Water/wwap/pccp/cd/pdf/history_future_shared_water_resources/water_management_early.pdf


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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:


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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

http://www.cseindia.org/userfiles/KarnatakaGWact.pdf

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

http://parisaramahiti.kar.nic.in/EMPRI-parisara-NL-issue-23-final.pdf

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/Lake_Rehabilitation_ESG_Submission2_HC_817_2008_Compl_Feb_2011.pdf

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/Lake_Rehabilitation_ESG_Submission2_HC_817_2008_Compl_Feb_2011.pdf

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

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/rejuvenation-of-lake-halfhearted-work/article7094170.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/rejuvenation-of-lake-halfhearted-work/article7094170.ece




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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

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,


13

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


14

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


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

http://cgwb.gov.in/gw_profiles/st_karnataka.htm

http://lyceumbooks.com/pdf/Effective_Community_P_Chapter_02.pdf


16

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


17

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:


18

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


19

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:


20

● 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.


21

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

https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/beacon/PARtoolkit.pdf


22

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


23

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


24

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.


25

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

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




26

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


27

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.


28

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.


29

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)


30

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?


31

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


32

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


33

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


34

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


35

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


36

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.


37

Appendix 5: Master Data Sheet: Data Management