BENGALURU: While public and private borewells in Bengaluru have dried up, Yediyur ward in Bengaluru South has become a topic of discussion for its several water conservation measures that have helped raise the water table.
While the groundwater table in areas like Jayanagar 3rd Block and Basavanagudi is around 300 feet, people are able to get groundwater within 100 feet in areas like Upparahalli, and Sakkamma Garden. The average groundwater table in Yediyur ward is at around 213 feet.
“Yediyur ward comprises 18 areas and 197 roads. Every time a drain is desilted or reconstructed, at every 30 feet, a minimum of a 400-litre rainwater harvesting pit is set up. In parks, 4,000-12,000 litre capacity pits are made for every 100 sqft. In total, there are 2,781 rainwater pits in Yediyur which help catch 8.68 lakh litres of water during the monsoon,” said NR Ramesh, former ruling party leader of BBMP, and former BJP president, Bengaluru South. Ramesh added that rainwater harvesting did not stop with just recharging pits. It extended to deadend roads, where instead of concrete or tar that don’t allow seepage of rainwater, paver blocks are used to lay the road.
“We have used paver blocks to lay five roads which are over 100 metres in length, and can bear a load of 200 tonnes. The paver blocks help rainwater percolate, and there is no rainwater runoff. The water table can be improved by over 40ft during a single monsoon,” explained Ramesh.
“All rainwater flows down the drain from where it joins stormwater drains, and leaves the city. If the Yediyur model is emulated across the city, it will help recharge groundwater. This needs political will and proper planning,” he said.