BENGALURU: When it comes to Bengaluru’s water situation, a shortage issue on its availability has been a looming concern. Government Girls High School, Devanahalli, also suffered from a lack of sufficient water supply for a long time. Things are finally looking up, after the installation of a rainwater harvesting plant on June 26. Dr R G Nadadur, president of Environment Association of Bangalore (EAB), a city-based NGO comprising a group of environmentalists, said the issue came to light through the former block education officer of Devanahalli.
“Over a year ago, she (Gayatri Devi) highlighted that a big number of girl students dropped out from schools. Based on her study, she narrowed it down the problem to the lack of water in school toilets,” he says, adding that they took up rainwater harvesting at a school in Yeliyur, before they completed a similar project in the school at Devanahalli. “The school had a sump with a capacity of 5,000 litres which was inadequate and we have now built a tank of 30,000 litres in capacity,” says Nadadur.
This was followed by pipe work, fitting of taps, adding a new pump and overhead tanks. “We have added additional tank capacity so the water can be stored in the overhead tanks and the sumps. The plan is to harvest water during monsoons and to recharge and store the municipal water supply received,” he says.
With technical aid from Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology, along with crowdfunding, the project was completed within `3,00,000 and further assistance to 10 schools in Devanahalli was looked into. Addressing the severe water shortage in Devanahalli, Nadadur emphasised that the block is a ‘geologically dark area’. “It has been this way for 30 odd years now with underground water being severely limited despite having multiple borewells. It is a serious problem and we are looking not just towards water harvesting but also towards recharge pits, for which we have made provisions in both schools,” says Nadadur.