Fire Station -MAKE A RUN FOR IT!

Fire Station - Make a run for it!

The fire station at Rajajinagar Bangalore can teach you what a rescue operation entails. It can also impart valuable lessons in water conservation

Firemen primarily tackle fire accidents, right? They also help during natural calamities, evacuating people to safety. Their main job remains fire-fighting, for which water is their primary raw material. Water, in any fire station, is stored in a large underground sump. Every fire station has a dedicated, express water line provided by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. The service is unmetered.

 However, for months on end, a fire station may not receive a distress call. The equipment, which lies unused, may not work when required. So, mock drills are conducted every week. But mock drills consume a lot of water. 

The Karnataka State Council for Science & Technology decided to take up rainwater harvesting at the 2-acre Rajajinagar fire station as part of its work in public spaces. As fire stations do not need potable quality water, Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology suggested that the fire station harvest its roof-top rainwater.
Water collected from the roof (area 300 sq. m.) is filtered and stored in an underground sump. An additional sump with a capacity of 60,000 liter is built. This sump can fill 10 fire trucks. It also nurtures a lovely garden.

Rainwater Quenches Fire

The Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services department is a department of the Government of Karnataka that is the foremost disaster management body in Karnataka, India. Among the 17 fire stations in Bangalore, Rajajinagar fire station at Rajajinagar Industrial town has implemented rainwater harvesting. The total plot of the fire station in Rajajinagar is 8, 094 sq. m. with Rooftop area of 297 sq. m. Currently the water supply to the fire station is from BWSSB and borewell meets the per days demand of 5, 000 liter. Existing 60,000 liter sump will be used to store rainwater.

The rainwater flowing through the down water pipes is filtered through four PopUp filters and stored in an existing 60, 000 liter underground sump. With 971 mm average rainfall of Bangalore, the total annual rainwater potential from roof area of 297 sq. m. is around 2, 16, 000 liter.  The water stored in the underground sump is being subsequently used for secondary purpose like gardening, washing, flushing, vehicle washing, fire fighting, equipment, etc., The total roof area of the building is 297 sq. m. and the annual potential of rainwater is around 2, 16, 000 liter. With existing Underground sump storage of 60,000 liter. in total for rainwater, the total requirement of 18, 25, 000 liter is being met for 54 days in a year.

Vidhana Soudha - Miracle in Stone, Brick and Mortar

Vidhana Soudha - Miracle in Stone, Brick and Mortar

Vidhana Soudha is very, very special, especially to someone obsessed with roofs and walls and drains! Go around the entire building and you will not see a single rainwater pipe anywhere. This is because Vidhana Soudha has been designed as an inward-looking building, which means that water flows into the two courtyards.

There are down water pipes on the walls of these courtyards. Rainwater is discharged at the ground level and goes into an underground drain. But again, no one seemed to know where this drain is located. I nosed around and discovered a well-formed tunnel, again 15 ft below ground level, towards the southern side of the building. But my joy was short-lived. I couldn’t find the exit point of this tunnel and I couldn’t find any drawings of the building’s drainage system.

However, all that scrambling on the roof of the High Court had taught me some valuable lessons! I took a few bottles of blue ink, mixed it in buckets of water and poured the coloured water through the down water pipes in Vidhana Soudha. Again, I went around the building to see if I could catch sight of the inky blue trail!

And here’s what I discovered:

·         There are no drains within a 1/2-km radius of Vidhana Soudha. But 1 ½ km away – at Century Club’s rear gate – the tunnel that I discovered opens! The inky blue water had started coming out of this drain, a good 1 ½ km away, after 30 minutes of my having poured it down the roof of Vidhana Soudha!

·         Unfortunately, the water had got mixed with sewage and discharge from nearby canteens, rendering it useless. Treating this water would be like treating sewage!

Returning to Vidhana Soudha, I decided to collect rainwater in a ‘ring main’ inside the building. Vertical pipes were interlinked on the walls of Vidhana Soudha at a certain height above ground level where they would not intercept doors, windows or porticos etc. Water from these pipes could be channeled to a filteration point, but where?

·         Water cannot be stored inside the courtyards because they have hard rock beneath the surface.

·         Water cannot be brought out of a building which has 5 ft-thick walls made of solid stone!

We were very lucky to find 2 weak points in the entire building which we exploited to the hilt!

Vidhana Soudha has a basement on the Southern side near the Archaeology Department and Treasury. Through the ventilator in the basement, we laid two 12-inch pipes and constructed filtration systems.

The water was routed underground to the garden area and collected in 2 large underground sumps – one that lies between Vikasa Soudha and Vidhana Soudha near Gopala Gowda Circle, and the other which is located next to Kengal Hanumathaiah’s statue. The harvested rainwater is used round the year to keep the gardens around Vidhana Soudha green.

Currently 50% of the roof area on the southern side of the Vidhana Soudha is being considered for RWH.  With annual rainfall of 971 mm, total roof top rainwater available per year is 53,20,000 liter.

Cool solution to save Energy.

Cool solution to save Energy.

 Our house becomes truly eco friendly, when we use less electrical energy, water and LPG.

·        As thumb rule say, energy consumption per person per month is around 160 -100 KwH. This means an average family uses 400-500 units of electricity a month.

·        The WHO standard of water consumption is 135 litres per person per day.

·        14 kg LPG cylinder is expected to last a family for two months.

Points to adopt for huge savings of your Energy and Money.

  ·   Replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) or LED lights. Replacement of CFLs will save 80% energy for same light output

 ·      Install solar water heater with electrical heaters instead of geysers in all the bathrooms.

• Energy saving from solar water heaters is close to 40% for domestic use.

   ·    Set the thermostat in the    geyser / solar water heater hot water tank at 50^o and avoid                                                                         overheating of water to 60 or 70^o.

                                                        Heat losses are higher at high temperatures.

·        Paint walls with light color / pastel paints to brighten rooms. This will result in less use of artificial lighting.

·        A ‘zero watt’ bulb is a misnomer. It is actually a 15 watt bulb and it consumes power equivalent to CFL to light up a big room.

·        Switch off TV/Computer/Music system through switch and not through remote when not in use for long time. The ghost load consumption of electricity takes away lots of energy.

·        Use energy efficient equipment. Observe energy efficiency rating on appliances and gadgets like water pumps, refrigerators, washing machines etc., before you buy them (5-star rating is the best).

·        Paint your roof top white and reflect the sun’s heat. You may discover that you don’t really need fans.

·        Use a pressure cooker to cook rice, dal and vegetables. Avoid cooking in open vessels. Cooking in pressure cooker saves fuel upto 50%.

·        Make sure that your pond with aquatic plants and guppy fish is positioned next to your windows. This will ensure that you get cool breeze, taking away the need for air-conditioners or fans.

·        Avoid mindless generation of waste. Every kilogram of waste that has to be transported to landfills nearly 50 kms. away from the city, have a huge fuel cost (diesel that dump trucks use costs money). Over 60% of waste generated in house-holds is organic and can be treated at home.

·        Avoid using your car when you can cycle or walk. When you are driving, stop and switch off the engine when the traffic light turns red. 

Beedi workers look up towards clouds to quench their thirst

Beedi workers look up towards clouds to quench their thirst

Little drops of water make a mighty splash

In every crisis lies an opportunity. Here is one such inspiring story

Autos are used to ferry commuters around the city, right? Well, in a little hamlet on the outskirts, an “enterprising” auto driver found it more profitable to stock pots of water in his auto and hawk them at high rates to needy families than to ply his vehicle on the potholed roads!

The ‘Beedi Workers’ Colony is a low income group housing society in the outskirts of  Bangalore, Where there are 570 houses and 8 bore wells which are dry.

The men in this colony work as motor mechanics and autoriksha drivers, the women and children roll beedis (local cigarettes) all through the day and night.

And with the precious little that they earn, they BUY water! contaminated water! Awful, contaminated water!  

The “smart” auto driver who was hawking a pot of awful water for Rs 5 was collecting the water from Bharathi lake, behind Jnana Bharathi University. That lake is full of sewage discharged from the Vrushabavathi! The women knew the water was contaminated (“we fall sick so often”, they said) but made sure they boiled the water and drank it or used it for cooking. They really had no choice.
Isn’t it a shameful paradox that while most of us get 1,000 litres of WHO-standard water for a mere Rs 6, thanks to the BWSSB, these poor people pay Rs 5 for 12 litres of contaminated water? The haves are paying so little while the have-nots are being fleeced!

The RWH team found a small vacant plot full of weeds between 2 blocks in this colony. The kids in the block were using it as an open toilet. The plot was cleaned up, and RWH storage tank was built.

Then sealed tank to prevent contamination as hygiene levels were found to be poor has a tap on a platform with a lock. The roof water from houses in the two blocks is channeled into the tank. A Popup filter makes the water fit to use.

Every time it rains, queues form near the tank to collect pure, precious water.

What is marvellous is the life style transformation that followed. The roof, which was a complete mess of discarded cycle tyres and tubes, rotting leaves, old clothes and brooms, was cleaned up by the residents: they couldn’t afford to have their free and pure water supply contaminated!

Water from harvesting rain in this colony is still inadequate but it solves some of their water woes.

Catch the rain where it falls!

“Generate pure water from your own roof”

“Invite clouds on to your roof and then to your tank”

·        In cities, buildings are usually constructed with rooftops of  Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) or  Mangalore tiles.

·        Rooftop rainwater usually flows into storm water drains outside the plot area.

·        As roofs are built with hard material, large quantities of rainwater will runoff and loss due to evaporation and percolation are minimal. 

·        “Catch the rain where it falls” - allow the rooftop rainwater through a filter in to your tank.

In your building you have the roof, you have the down water pipes and also a tank to store water.

Just interconnect two or three down water pipes and attach a rainwater filter before allowing the rainwater in to your tank. You will get pure water at your door step.

You will be the ambassador to save water.

This simple gesture of yours will go a long way to protect nature and its precious resources.

Go green, Conserve water, Harvest rainwater. 

Dead Borewell can Spring Back to Life

Dead Borewell can Spring Back to Life

Bangalore may have at the conservative estimate, around 4 lakh borewells.

Cost of each borewell is around Rs 1 lakh (drilling + installing a pumping set).

Total investment on borewells in Bangalore is around 40,000 Million Rupees.

At least half of the borewells in Bangalore are dead (not yielding water or low yielding).

Can we bring back life in to these 2 lakh borewells and put back to use the investment of around 20,000 Million Rupees of hard earned money by individuals?

Underground water is one of the important sources of water in urban areas. With increasing urbanization, underground water has been indiscriminately exploited causing depletion in water table and water availability. It is very evident from the number of failing bore wells / open wells that it is unsustainable to pump out water from wells without recharging the same from the rainwater. To reverse the trend or to reduce the effect of over exploitation, ground water recharge needs to be taken up in large scale at residential and institutional buildings. 

There are many methods of ground water recharge, direct recharge through borewells or tubewells (only for low yielding or failed borewells) is one of the method for recharging ground water using rainwater from rooftops of buildings.

Rainwater from the roof may be allowed to flow through PopUp filter and recharge ground water from an existing borewell. Filtered rainwater from PopUp filter enters the storage tank and the overflow from the storage tank with clear and stabilized water should be diverted to the Casing Pipe of Bore well. It is advised not to allow the filtered rainwater from the PopUp filters in to the bore well (Low yielding or failed). Fine silt or dust from the roof may pass through the filter and block the micro pores or aquifers in the bore well causing permanent damage to the bore well. To avoid this, rainwater from the filters may be allowed to stabilize in a storage tank specially designed to inject rainwater in to the bore well.

Clean and safe rainwater recharges the borewell aquifers to increase the yield and availability. It is advised to consult a professional before attempting to inject rainwater into bore wells.

If the roof top rainwater is contaminated with bacteria (may be from bird droppings etc.), the borewell water will also get contaminated. If the contaminated water is injected to borewell, many borewells in the neighborhood may also get contaminated. Care should be taken to address this before attempting for borewell recharge.

ZERO ENERGY WATER

Zero Energy Water

Rainwater harvesting is the process of collecting and using rainwater in a scientific and controlled manner.

Rainwater can be collected from Flat roof or inclined roof.

Rain water can be stored at different levels. Storing the harvested rainwater on the roof itself will give you freedom from pump and electricity.

As the rainwater flows from clouds to the roof of our building, it is logical to store the water on the roof for future use. Since the roof water need filtration and the filters will need some head for the rainwater to flow through them, we can install rainwater tanks on a roof lower than that of the collection roof.

Water from this tank can be used in all the taps which are below this level. This water is “Zero Energy Water”

In nature, hydrological cycle takes the water which is on the ground through evaporation and form clouds. By this process water has traveled against the earth’s gravity and comes down as rain. Instead of allowing the roof top rainwater to flow in to the tank at the ground level, we can store part of harvested rainwater on the intermittent roof levels.

The rainwater stored in these tanks does not need electricity or pump for use, instead flows down by gravity.