World water day celebrations at RRNagar , Bengaluru

 Some twenty years back, a lush green and tranquil paradise....  RRNagar currently has turned into a environmental disaster area  with garbage strewn all over the place , it's beautiful lakes turned into a stinking cesspool , and hundreds of tree being felled in the name of progress. Groundwater tables are disappearing and water crisis is looming large on the horizon. 

We the residents realized that complaints to the governing body brought forth no solution to the impending disaster.

So a group called "RRNagar - I care" was born........ a group formed by the concerned residents of our locality. Its main objective is to awaken the residents of RRNagar to the collective problems we are all facing and to initiate all resisdents to work together for a “Clean and Green RR Nagar”. 

The first of its initiative was the celebration of the International World Water Day , with a theme that " Every drop counts" . Though the World Water day officially  falls on 22nd March , we decided to hold our celebrations on Sunday the  24th of March 2013 ... so that we could rope in the children of RRNagar . 

The group came together to spread awareness  on the importance of water & depletion in the water table in our once abundant region. And who are more suitable to drive the message  other than our little budding artists? A painting competition was held for the children with a theme “Every drop counts” in one of the parks in our area. The ideas that the little one depicted the theme were truely amazing. 

Here are a couple of pictures of  the painting competition in progress.

After the painting event , the children participated in a " Walk for Water" event . The children accompanied with adults  took to the street of RRNagar , with placards and pots on their head and  marched  to the drum beats and shouts of " Save Water, Save Life" towards theHalagevaderahalli lake in our locality  , which is presently under restoration. 

 

See our little " Green  Warriors " walking towards the Lake, creating awareness about the importance of water conservation. Truly this event shows that " We have not inherited this planet from our ancestors , but have actually borrowed it from our children"

 

 

 The finale to the event was the display of all the painting strung on a rope between tree. They reminded me of the Tibetan tradition of stringing  "Prayer flag " at places of worship , which flutters with the winds and  scatters  far and wide , the goodwill , blessing and prayers for protection and prosperity for all living and non-living beings of the earth . Hopefully ,these painting fluttering in the winds over the lake will similarly carry the message of the "call for action for a sustainable  and water abundant future for all " .  

 We had a small skit by children highlighting how water is being wasted in our household as part of our daily activity followed by the prize distribution.

 Two prize winning painting are shown below. 

Thank you  Rahul, Shalini , Dilip and Dhruv( our 12 year old budding photographer :-) ) for taking pictures of the event .

World Water Day 22nd March 2013

Friday, March 22, 2013

World Water Day 22nd March 2013

For many of us , today is like any other day. We get up in the morning , flush the toilet ,brush our teeth ,have a bath , drink coffee , and go to work using our car , turn on the air-conditioner at work as we curse the the increasing summer heat.For many of us life without water is unthinkable. We forget that we are fortunate enough to have access to clean water which allows us to lead a comfortable life .

Today is the 20th anniversary of World Water Day , and all of us need to pause and consider that

•  783 millions the world over do not have safe water and almost 2.5 billion do not have access to adequate sanitation. 

•  6 to 8 million people die annually from the consequences of disasters and water-related diseases.

This year's theme is " International year of Water Cooperation which was launched at UNESCO Headquarters in Feb 2013. Here Ms Megha Kumar from India, announced her winning slogan , 'Water, water everywhere, only if we share'. How true ... In India , when ever a person comes to your house , the first thing that is served is water ( even without the person asking for it ! ) and the person drinks it even if he /she is not thirsty. Water is even shared with the birds, squirrels and other creature by keeping small bowls of water in the garden. Many houses would keep an earthen pot outside so that even strangers or street vendors can help themselves to the cool water to quench their thrist . In India water was freely shared in the past with anyone who need it .However ,  today water has become a profitable business with the sales of  bottled water soaring along with the summer heat!
Conflicts over water sharing between states , between communities has become the norm all over the world.... and the rich and the powerful are winning this war. 

What can each of us do ? What can we as a family do in our house? 

Some of the most simple ( but profound)  things we can do are

• Stop buying bottled water..... carry your own filtered water ( in stainless steel bottles).  
• Reduce meat consumption .  
  Economic growth and individual wealth are shifting diets from predominantly starch-based to meat and dairy, which require more water. Producing 1 kg of rice, for example, requires ~3,500 L of water where as producing 1 kg of beef  requires early 5 times more water i.e15,000 L ! It is estimated that that this dietary shift is the greatest to impact on water consumption over the last few decades, and is likely to continue well into future.  FAO (Food & Agricultural Organisation)  of UN have stated that........"Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.". Giving up meat is one of the greenest lifestyle changes one can make . Read more about this at http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/environment.html
• Install Water harvesting system / ground water recharging  system in your house and fix any leaks in your houses .  
• Reuse filtered greywater ( used for washing clothes and utensils)  in areas like gardens ,  walkways and  toilets where absolute clean water is not necessary . 

Here are some very inspiring stories about "People who are making a difference" .....common  people like you and me... who are quietly going about doing what they believe is important for conserving water or our planet 


Reap Benefit  is a social enterprise  run by four youngsters –  Kuldeep Dantewadia ,Kamal Raj and Gautam Prakash and Subha Niranjan, who  provide low cost environmental solutions. When a school in Bangalore , faced acute water crisis because of insufficient water supply and leaking old pipelines ,Reap Benefit stepped in and helped solve the crisis by greywater harvesting i.e  Water used for washing utensils was filtered and reused in toilets . In the process children learn't the importance of conserving water . Read more about this in the article "Making Green a habit Reaps Benefits"

Here is a 77 years old gentleman Aabid Surti , a National Award winning author, artist, cartoonist and playwright who for the  past seven years, fixes leaking taps in the houses of Mumbai every Sunday ! He says: “Anyone can launch a water conservation project in his or her area." that doesn’t require much funding or even an office. And most importantly, it puts the power back in our own hands.” Read more about this " modern day angel " at "Saving The Planet, One Drop At A Time"




 For more information 
http://www.unwater.org/water-cooperation-2013/home/en/
http://www.walkingforwater.eu/
http://www.indiawaterportal.org/catcheverydrop

Small learning on waste management in RRNagar...

As we are dealing with the problems faced by the contractor, BBMP & the citizens with regards to the waste management in RRNagar...

It is becoming clearer & clearer as to how ill-equipped & unprepared we still are. 

Complaints seem to be flying around & fingers being pointed all over but nobody seems to be wanting to take responsibility to come up with a workable solution.

BVG says he's under-quoted in the tender & is having problem covering the vast area for collection. 

• Dry waste (high grade) somehow is managing to fetch money for now. 
• But says they have no way of handling the wet waste( about 1.2 tonnes/day) within the area as BBMP allotted vacant spaces ( dumping pits), are facing problems due to residents' objections to the nuisance of stench/mosquitoes.
• Was a little shocked when they admitted to mixing lower grade plastics(fetching least money, after the PK's have taken the cream of dry waste, which are basically the higher grade plastics) along with the wet waste & packing it off to landfills.
• They are however waiting for BBMP to allot space for secondary segregation, so that a mix of higher grade & lower grade plastics can be turned into small pellets for easier transportation for reuse/resale.

BBMP says its BVG's problem since they have been assigned the contract. 

• A project for a bio-gas plant worth(75 lakhs - 1 crore)  has been sanctioned. Technology being imported from Germany by a local NGO. Take off ..... when, how, power/water sustenance/skill requirement of foreign technology remains to be seen. Hope to see a different picture ..... other than the usual shut-down of many foreign technology projects.

Citizens are grappling with situations of uncollected waste & finding easier ways of disposing it off by flinging in empty sites, storm water drains, lake & god knows where else!!!

With  sustainable facilities in place... people can be driven for a good segregation of waste, which right now seems to be of least concern.

On a positive note.... Ms Jyothi, stationed as the current Joint Commissioner, BBMP, seems to be taking things forward positively. Keeping fingers crossed!

PS : Lets come up with some ideas to manage the wet waste currently. Localizing would be a good idea?? what's holding us back?? Some apartments are not even ready to maintain separate bins for wastes.... a feedback from the BVG supervisors. Not many apartments seem to be ready for composting pits within their premises. 

F Road in Ideal Homes gets a Cleanup Job!

RRNagar seems to have turned from a place with "Nature in abundance to Plastic in abundance !!". So, trying to understand the situation is taking longer than expected.

Citizens blame the BBMP for not doing their job of clean up properly. BBMP blames the BVG for not delivering. BVG blames the citizens for not co-operating in waste segregation or not handing over the waste at all. And the BLAME Game just goes on & on !! Now, its quite a task to break this vicious cycle at some point.

So far the pain points for BVG in wards 160, 198 & surroundings have been small housing localities like the Bangarappa layout near Global Academy, the Halagevaderahalli. Wherein the residents living in chawls go to work early in the mornings & have no place to store their wastes (given the problem of rodents/ stray dogs digging through it with a vengeance) for the PKs (Poura Karmikas) to pick up. The waste collection Autos have given up on collection in these areas altogether expressing helplessness. As a result..... we find people throwing it in the Storm water Drains, Lake beds, empty sites on their way to work. Surprisingly, people come by in high end cars to dump all over the place!!

• A small step would be to start awareness drives in these areas, get hold of an influential person in the locality & come up with a watchdog team to ensure waste is disposed properly. 
• BBMP penalize those houses who don't hand over the wastes. ( Wonder if it'll ever happen :) ) 
• Provide collection bins for wet & dry wastes. ( ensuring it stays un-stolen is an issue though )

Solutions anyone????

Another small step... S. RadhaKrishna, an active member of RRNagar- I care, took it upon himself to get the desperately needed "clean up RRNagar" operation started on the F-road, Ideal homes.
And residents of the street turned up in quite a few numbers to make sure they contributed to a clean surrounding. In the process... a bachelors' adda got blasted for the bottle dumps!! Ha ha! Not sure if a police complaint got registered too :). Was amazed at the power a group drive brings in!!! The residents weren't sure how to handle the menace so far, but that day the boys really had it !!

The activity was supported by concerned residents from other areas, another Environment Group from Halagevaderahalli & Kids as usual added charm to the event. The BVG brought in quite a few PKs to help out & drive away the wastes. The tempo rumbled on loaded to the brim.

Another small job accomplished!

Young lady all set to clean up RajaRajeshwarinagar !!

An young lady, Lanchana of 8th std has a dream of seeing RRNagar clean & litter-free!! And she dared to take the baby steps of a clean up drive starting at the BEML Layout 3rd stage Balakrishna Ranagamandira.

She was accompanied by a dozen of resident volunteers, young gals & their moms. And where were the men ???? Preparing for elections !!!!

It took about an hour to get the litter off the premises but the gals all hungry & sweaty ... were still rearing to go !!

A couple of  gunny bags filled with dry waste ( mainly Gutka packets & plastic spoons & bottles ) were  sent out to the Dry waste Collection Centre with the help of Veena & Mr. Rajappa.

Kudos to the team !!!

BWSSB to the rescue of Halagevaderahalli lake !!

As per the discussion with the Dr. P N Ravindra, new initiatives for BWSSB on 3/4/13, and consecutive inspections by the concerned executives on the 4th & 8th of Apr 2013, it has been decided  that the BWSSB is going to initiate the process of separating the Sewage from the Storm Water Drain ( running adjacent to the Halagevaderahalli Lake). Baage gowda layout, an upstream unauthorised layout being the major contributor to the spewing of sewage into the SWD.

They have also promised to cut off sewage lines running under the south-side bund, out of the lake area & divert them onto the other side of the SWD (Storm Water Drain).

This is definitely a welcome progress!!! As we all understand what any breach in the pipe lines would lead to ... phospates combined with sewage chokes the water.

"A majority of lakes in the City are thus victims of ‘Eutrofication’ — a process by which a water body acquires a high concentration of nutrients and phosphates, which in turn, promote excessive algae growth, which depletes the oxygen content of the water, killing off organisms such as fish & creating havoc in the biodiversity of the water body. "