BANGALORE: With Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) enforcing rain water harvesting among all residential and commercial properties in the city, one can only hope for a brighter future with respect to water issues. Rapid urbanisation and ever-increasing dema nd for water requires the implementation of a far more effective system in the garden city. Keeping this in mind, a rain water harvesting system was installed in the in 2009.
The project on rain water harvesting is a joint effort by four environment conscious institutions including Adobe, Charity Aid Foundation, Bangalore Association for Science Education (BASE) and Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE). and also takes a look at the systems installed at the Planetarium.
A display board put up near Chalukya Circle states that the public can seek information on the whole rain water harvesting process by visiting the planetarium. However, on enquiring further, a pamphlet with all details pertaining to harvesting system was provided. “We have several visitors dropping in almost every day. However, it is difficult to give the exact number as we don’t keep a count. We do not give any live demonstration here. The display board was put up solely to encourage public interaction. This is not an original project by the planetarium. We serve as a focal point between the general public and the authorities concerned from TIDE. The whole idea behind setting up this system was to spread awareness on the importance of rain water harvesting system in Bangalore,” said Administrative Officer of Bangalore Assosiation for Science Education, Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, K K Kutty.
Rainwater harvesting systems are designed to collect, filter and store rain water and to recharge ground water. The planetarium is well- equipped with both rooftop harvesting and surface run off harvesting techniques. “We have two sumps each with a capacity of 12,000 litres and 25, 000 litres respectively. We use the water for gardening and soil rejuvenation. We do a detailed assessment of water levels before the rainy season. Maintenance is a huge concern as we don’t get plumbers all the time. Since we depend heavily on manual labour, issues like failing of motors and cleaning the sump cannot be addressed on a regular basis. We need a more sophisticated approach today,” KK Kutty added.