Rejuvenating wells and ponds for posterity

By Manjunath Hadimani | NT

Once, open wells were the main source of water in Bengaluru. With the advent of bore wells, most of the open wells became either redundant or garbage dumps. But the city is now reaping the benefits of ‘Million Wells for Bengaluru’, a campaign launched by the Biome Environmental Trust to ensure sustainability of drinking water.

Biome Environmental Solutions is a Bengaluru-based design firm focused on ecology, architecture and water. The trust has so far rejuvenated around 10,000 wells and ponds at Richmond Park, Cubbon Park, Rest House Park and a few parks in and around Devanahalli apart from rejuvenating the Madiwala Lake.

Recently, the trust rejuvenated four wells at Lalbagh Botanical Garden. The replenishment of one more well is under progress there.

Kusuma G, Deputy Director, Horticulture, Lalbagh Botanical Garden said the wells at the park were not used for more than 30 years and they were filled with waste and garbage. “Since the wells were not used for many years they were filled with waste and garbage. These wells are 100 to 150 years old. Biome refurbished the wells with the help of professional Mannu Vaddars, the well digging community,” she said.

According to Biome, seven open wells were desilted in 2018 in Cubbon Park. “To manage the shallow aquifer and to compensate for the extraction of water from these wells, 73 recharge wells of 3 ft diameter and up to 15 ft depth were implemented. For every rain of 10mm, there is a runoff of 1213 kilo litres (KL) that can be captured and percolated into the ground. Each well has a static volume of 3 KL. Given the recharge rates at the park, we estimate that every well has the potential to recharge up to 6 KL every day every time it rains. This means that a total recharge volume of 73*6KL = 438 KL is available at the park,” a Biome statement read.

Suma Rao, Project officer, Biome Environmental Trust said it is ironic that Bengaluru gets flooded with water when there is rain and there is no water underground. “People dig up to 2,000 metres only to find no water underground. The city’s water table has been depleted. The rain water finds its way to the drains without recharging the water table. Our campaign, Million Wells for Bengaluru, aims to harvest rain water by creating 3ft x 20ft wells in houses where the clean rainwater from roofs will be stored, which further helps in improving the groundwater level,” she said.

Differentiating the shallow aquifer and deep aquifer, she said that water can be found in shallow aquifers that are three ft distance from the land surface.

“To improve the water table, we have to find a way to hold the water and store it in the ground. What better place to store it than the lakes and wells,” she said.

Role of well diggers
Mannu Vaddars from the Bhovi community are a traditional well digger community. Hailing from Sarjapur and Anekal, they play key roles in rejuvenating the wells.

Balasubramanium, a resident of Vidyaranyapura, said he has been using water from the open well for drinking and household purposes for more than 15 years. “Biome helped me to manage the well for rainwater harvesting. I have a 2,000 sq ft which is being used as the catchment area for rainwater which is being diverted to the well. Now we are using the water for drinking and other household purposes. The water tastes sweet,” he said.

Neeru Goyal, Resident of Bellandur, said that she has been using a recharge well for three years. “We use the water from open wells for five to six months in a year. The water is crystal clear. After testing the water, we realised that its quality is better compared to the municipal water,” she said.