HSR layout (Hosur-Sarjapur Road layout) is a prominent suburb in south-eastern Bangalore, in the Bommanahalli constituency. It lies in the outer (or newer) part of BBMP jurisdiction that has become a part of the city during the 2000s.
Objective
The objective of the project is to drive climate resilience and self-sufficiency in the water sector for the local area. The project is a part of a larger initiative driven by United Way that aims to dig 10,000 percolation wells/recharge wells in and around the city and in private and public places to increase the groundwater table as well as mitigate flooding.
The wells and the well diggers
Well digger Pedanna and his team were involved in digging these wells. It took about 4 people to dig one well in a day.
Measurements:
Well dimensions: 5 feet dia by 12-15 feet deep.
Distance between two wells is 20 meters.
Depending on the size of the park, anywhere between 6 to 20 wells were dug in each of the parks. Some prominent parks in the list include Bangalore one park on 24th Main, Forest park in Sector 2, Sri Varasiddhi Vinayaka Temple Park in sector 7, Swachagraha Kalika Kendra in sector 4 etc.
According to well digger Pedanna, in some parks old pits filled with jelly stones were found. These had silted up completely and trees were growing in some of them. This made them non-revivable and non-usable. Hence, there was a need to dig more wells.
Contract structure
United way has been the initiator and the funder of this project in partnership with BBMP. The implementation partner for this project is Indus Herbs, through whom well digger Pedanna and team has received the well digging contract.
Impact
In a city like Bengaluru, parks are a few places where the non-paved areas are greater than the paved ones. According to United Way, such places have great potential for groundwater recharge and flood mitigation. Based on the experience United Way has had at other sites like Lalbagh, they are expecting to see good results in this regard in HSR layout as well. The actual effect of the project still remains to be seen in the coming seasons, however, as implementation has just been completed.
