Biome Environmental Trust

2014-2015

World Water Day 2015 at Wipro

World Water Day 2015 was celebrated on March 25 at Wipro’s Sarjapur Road campus with a small event involving their employees.

World Water Day 2015 at RBD

World Water Day 2015 was celebrated on March 22 at Rainbow Drive during which the new phytorid STP was inaugurated.

Citizen dialogue with KSPCB

Biome organised a meeting between lake groups, RWAs and KSPCB officials to discuss reuse of treated wastewater for groundwater recharge, in March 2015.

Lake Bioremediation meeting

Presentation at WEDC International Conference on RRR Project

Biome presented a paper on the work done on the ‘Resource Recovery and Reuse: From Research to Implementation Project’ at the 37th WEDC Int’l Conference at Hanoi, Vietnam, 15-19 September 2014.

ELCIA Expo 2014

Biome set up a stall at the Electronic City Industries Association Expo 2014 and interacted with several interested visitors.

Water literacy sessions at Jodi Krishnapura and KB Hosahalli schools

Sessions in water literacy were conducted for the students and the faculty at Jodi Krishnapura and KB Hosahalli schools in Kolar, especially on the topic of water quality as it is a high fluoride area, in Sept 2014

Interns’ visit to RBD and Sumanahalli

Three Biome interns visited Rainbow Drive and Sumanahalli slum as part of the ACARA – Univ of Minnesota program.

Sanitation, health and hygiene program for slum kids

Biome was the knowledge resource provider for a program on sanitation, health and hygiene for 15 slum kids, conducted as part of GiZ’s Indo-German Partnership Program in April 2014.

RWH at Swamy Vivekananda School, Chandapura

Mr Venkataswamy Reddy installed a rooftop RWH system designed by Biome at his alma mater, where he was a student of the first batch in 1963.

Rainbow Drive visit for RWAs

Biome organised a visit to Rainbow Drive for around 50 representatives of RWAs to understand how groundwater recharge works, on April 5, 2014.

Participatory Groundwater Mapping Programme

An action research program was undertaken for arriving at a participatory aquifer management approach to groundwater management. This was undertaken in the 8 micro watersheds in the Upper Ponnaiyar Watershed in Bangalore. The idea was to bring together academic research, effective communication to citizens, catalysis of citizen participation and advocacy to forge a way forward towards participatory aquifer management. The activities undertaken were

  1. Establishing data collection mechanisms for aquifer mapping
  2. Development of aquifer mapping methodology
  3. Data collection
  4. Interpretation of data
  5. Development of an online web based platform for sharing of data as well as information on groundwater management (groundwaters.in)

RWH and toilets in Jodi Krishnapura School, Narsapura, Kolar

Rainwater Harvesting was implemented in Jodi Krishnapura School, Narsapura, Kolar with help from SCANIA. The rooftop runoff of the school was collected through downpipes and directed to an existing tank. First Rain Separator was integrated to the downpipes and a filter with gravel and charcoal was also refurbished. The water thus collected was used for hand and vessel wash.

Water from the existing sump was being drawn through buckets by the students. To avoid this practice, a submersible pump was fit to pump the water to a new overhead tank. Delivery pipelines from the overhead tank were laid to the toilets, kitchen and to the anganwadi. The toilets were in a poor state with no water supply. Water supply was ensured from the new overhead tank and also through new taps inside the toilets. The toilet flooring and walls were also refurbished and a sheet roof was provided for the girls’ toilet for privacy.

Pilot Testing of Sanitation Safety Plan (SSP)

As part of the above programme the following activities were carried out

  1. A thorough review of the draft SSP manual to attain familiarity with the content and concepts within the Sanitation Safety Planning approach.
  2. Identification of the relevant institution to form a city SSP steering committee or technical working group making use of existing multi-stakeholder platforms where already existing to attend the kick-off meeting.
  3. Facilitation the technical working group through the first step of the SSP approach to identify an appropriate site for Pilot SSP implementation that contains multiple health risk factors. Identification of “hotspots” at the site that should be prioritised for a detailed SSP development.
  4. Facilitation of the detailed SSP development process step by step for the selected site in a series of office meetings and field visits. The process could take a total of up to 6 months with each task being addressed in a separate meeting of the SSP team. The consultant should document suggested clarifications and improvements to the manual at each step to feed into the improved final SSP manual. Technical support will be provided by a WHO consultant at key stages for this SSP development process.
  5. Preparation of a case study document outlining what was done, who was involved and administrative and technical challenges faced and how these were solved. Globally relevant parts of  the case study will be used to illustrate the manual with useful practical examples.

Lakes Bioremediation

This program was taken up

-> To help empower communities and create capacities in lake development and management as well as help embed the communities in the institutional process of lake development and management

AND

-> To evaluate the various options for handling the inflow of sewage into the lakes (with focus on bio- remediation) and recommend the appropriate methodology, budget and space requirements for some of the lakes

  • Understand / document / share the current process for lake development and management – as stated by the institutions
  • Understand / document / share the specific institutional plans for the 15 lakes in the microwatershed – for those lakes where there is a plan
    1. Identifying the 15 lakes, lake details – area, sewage flow, DPR, the owner (BBMP, LDA etc), neighbouring communities, citizen groups, tanker operators, open wells, history
  • Speak with communities to understand how they are currently involved, what are the issues, what has worked – not worked. Share this information with the group
    1. Trips of 15-25 people to Lal Bagh, Cubbon Park, Jakkur, Herohalli (STP/ lakes/ wells)
    2. 2 trips to each of the 15 lakes (people that are a part of the community)
    3. In the whole process of community interaction, we should look at creating at least one community event for a few of the lakes (a few have been conducted in Kaikondrahalli) with participation from the local community (esp. lower middle and labour community – which will require engagement in local languages Creation of Website/Portal (will need a separate partner and budget) – out of Scope currently
  • Try to create a continuous process of engagement between regulatory institutions, community groups and institutional entities (companies, builders, SME/commercial and group housing) in the watershed area.
    1. Workshop
    2. Process of regular meetings / Email updates
  • Where communities do not exist – help identify and create them
    1. Flyers – to build awareness about history/plans/hydrogeology/challenges for the
      lake. This will be specific for each of the lakes/series of lakes. eg.
      https://jakkurlake.jux.com/
  • Communities then take this engagement forward
    1. First Workshop with partners (IISc, ATREE, MAPSAS, BBMP etc.) to discuss/clarify
  1. Define/agree on Scope/Objective of Project
  2. Share existing data/information on the lakes
  3. Identify additional data that needs to be collected
  4. Discuss the modalities of implementation of bio-remediation post the completion of this project
  1. Study of the performance (existing data/reports – no new data collection will happen) of already implemented bioremediation techniques in Bangalore. (include community site visits)
    1. Herohalli Kere, Magadi Road : SBT
    2. Cubbon Park
    3. Jakkur Lake
  2. Study of the performance of the existing wetlands in the Kaikondrahalli lake as well as the lower Ambalipura Lake. On a regular basis the following will be monitored
    1. Input water quality/quantity
    2. Output water quality/quantity
    3. Nature / health / area of wetland
    4. Biodiversity
    5. Recharge rates, evaporation rates

Some of these parameters will be monitored for other lakes as well. However for the purpose of implementation of bioremediation it will be assumed that the nature of raw sewage will mostly be domestic and hence similar to the water coming to other lakes like Herohalli and Jakkur

  1. Evaluation of Bioremediation methodologies
    1. Literature survey
    2. Site visits (might involve out-of-Bangalore travel)
    3. Getting vendors / experts to submit proposals including costs, space requirements, nature of bioremediation etc.
  2. Follow-up workshop with the partners to decide appropriate bio-remediation techniques for each of the lakes
    1. Share the gathered information about all 14 lakes and bio-remediation techniques
    2. Recommendations of appropriate technology for each of the lakes
    3. Implementation plan with budget for about 4-5 lakes
  3. Post workshop, a plan for Piloting some of the bioremediation methodologies on 4-5 lakes will be submitted

2014 - 2015

World Water Day 2015 at Wipro

World Water Day 2015 was celebrated on March 25 at Wipro’s Sarjapur Road campus with a small event involving their employees.

World Water Day 2015 at RBD

World Water Day 2015 was celebrated on March 22 at Rainbow Drive during which the new phytorid STP was inaugurated.

Citizen dialogue with KSPCB

Biome organised a meeting between lake groups, RWAs and KSPCB officials to discuss reuse of treated wastewater for groundwater recharge, in March 2015.

Lake Bioremediation meeting

Presentation at WEDC International Conference on RRR Project

Biome presented a paper on the work done on the ‘Resource Recovery and Reuse: From Research to Implementation Project’ at the 37th WEDC Int’l Conference at Hanoi, Vietnam, 15-19 September 2014.

ELCIA Expo 2014

Biome set up a stall at the Electronic City Industries Association Expo 2014 and interacted with several interested visitors.

Water literacy sessions at Jodi Krishnapura and KB Hosahalli schools

Sessions in water literacy were conducted for the students and the faculty at Jodi Krishnapura and KB Hosahalli schools in Kolar, especially on the topic of water quality as it is a high fluoride area, in Sept 2014

Interns’ visit to RBD and Sumanahalli

Three Biome interns visited Rainbow Drive and Sumanahalli slum as part of the ACARA – Univ of Minnesota program.

Sanitation, health and hygiene program for slum kids

Biome was the knowledge resource provider for a program on sanitation, health and hygiene for 15 slum kids, conducted as part of GiZ’s Indo-German Partnership Program in April 2014.

RWH at Swamy Vivekananda School, Chandapura

Mr Venkataswamy Reddy installed a rooftop RWH system designed by Biome at his alma mater, where he was a student of the first batch in 1963.

Rainbow Drive visit for RWAs

Biome organised a visit to Rainbow Drive for around 50 representatives of RWAs to understand how groundwater recharge works, on April 5, 2014.

Participatory Groundwater Mapping Programme

An action research program was undertaken for arriving at a participatory aquifer management approach to groundwater management. This was undertaken in the 8 micro watersheds in the Upper Ponnaiyar Watershed in Bangalore. The idea was to bring together academic research, effective communication to citizens, catalysis of citizen participation and advocacy to forge a way forward towards participatory aquifer management. The activities undertaken were

  1. Establishing data collection mechanisms for aquifer mapping
  2. Development of aquifer mapping methodology
  3. Data collection
  4. Interpretation of data
  5. Development of an online web based platform for sharing of data as well as information on groundwater management (groundwaters.in)

RWH and toilets in Jodi Krishnapura School, Narsapura, Kolar

Rainwater Harvesting was implemented in Jodi Krishnapura School, Narsapura, Kolar with help from SCANIA. The rooftop runoff of the school was collected through downpipes and directed to an existing tank. First Rain Separator was integrated to the downpipes and a filter with gravel and charcoal was also refurbished. The water thus collected was used for hand and vessel wash.

Water from the existing sump was being drawn through buckets by the students. To avoid this practice, a submersible pump was fit to pump the water to a new overhead tank. Delivery pipelines from the overhead tank were laid to the toilets, kitchen and to the anganwadi.

The toilets were in a poor state with no water supply. Water supply was ensured from the new overhead tank and also through new taps inside the toilets. The toilet flooring and walls were also refurbished and a sheet roof was provided for the girls’ toilet for privacy.

Pilot Testing of Sanitation Safety Plan (SSP)

As part of the above programme the following activities were carried out

  1. A thorough review of the draft SSP manual to attain familiarity with the content and concepts within the Sanitation Safety Planning approach.
  2. Identification of the relevant institution to form a city SSP steering committee or technical working group making use of existing multi-stakeholder platforms where already existing to attend the kick-off meeting.
  3. Facilitation the technical working group through the first step of the SSP approach to identify an appropriate site for Pilot SSP implementation that contains multiple health risk factors. Identification of “hotspots” at the site that should be prioritised for a detailed SSP development.
  4. Facilitation of the detailed SSP development process step by step for the selected site in a series of office meetings and field visits. The process could take a total of up to 6 months with each task being addressed in a separate meeting of the SSP team. The consultant should document suggested clarifications and improvements to the manual at each step to feed into the improved final SSP manual. Technical support will be provided by a WHO consultant at key stages for this SSP development process.
  5. Preparation of a case study document outlining what was done, who was involved and administrative and technical challenges faced and how these were solved. Globally relevant parts of  the case study will be used to illustrate the manual with useful practical examples.

Lakes Bioremediation

This program was taken up 

-> To help empower communities and create capacities in lake development and management as well as help embed the communities in the institutional process of lake development and management

AND

-> To evaluate the various options for handling the inflow of sewage into the lakes (with focus on bio- remediation) and recommend the appropriate methodology, budget and space requirements for some of the lakes

  • Understand / document / share the current process for lake development and management – as stated by the institutions
  • Understand / document / share the specific institutional plans for the 15 lakes in the microwatershed – for those lakes where there is a plan
    1. Identifying the 15 lakes, lake details – area, sewage flow, DPR, the owner (BBMP, LDA etc), neighbouring communities, citizen groups, tanker operators, open wells, history
  • Speak with communities to understand how they are currently involved, what are the issues, what has worked – not worked. Share this information with the group
    1. Trips of 15-25 people to Lal Bagh, Cubbon Park, Jakkur, Herohalli (STP/ lakes/ wells)
    2. 2 trips to each of the 15 lakes (people that are a part of the community)
    3. In the whole process of community interaction, we should look at creating at least one community event for a few of the lakes (a few have been conducted in Kaikondrahalli) with participation from the local community (esp. lower middle and labour community – which will require engagement in local languages Creation of Website/Portal (will need a separate partner and budget) – out of Scope currently
  • Try to create a continuous process of engagement between regulatory institutions, community groups and institutional entities (companies, builders, SME/commercial and group housing) in the watershed area.
    1. Workshop
    2. Process of regular meetings / Email updates
  • Where communities do not exist – help identify and create them
    1. Flyers – to build awareness about history/
      plans/
      hydrogeology/
      challenges for the
      lake. This will be specific for each of the lakes/series of lakes. eg. Jakkur lake

  • Communities then take this engagement forward
    1. First Workshop with partners (IISc, ATREE, MAPSAS, BBMP etc.) to discuss/clarify
  1. Define/agree on Scope/Objective of Project
  2. Share existing data/information on the lakes
  3. Identify additional data that needs to be collected
  4. Discuss the modalities of implementation of bio-remediation post the completion of this project
  1. Study of the performance (existing data/reports – no new data collection will happen) of already implemented bioremediation techniques in Bangalore. (include community site visits)
    1. Herohalli Kere, Magadi Road : SBT
    2. Cubbon Park
    3. Jakkur Lake
  2. Study of the performance of the existing wetlands in the Kaikondrahalli lake as well as the lower Ambalipura Lake. On a regular basis the following will be monitored
    1. Input water quality/quantity
    2. Output water quality/quantity
    3. Nature / health / area of wetland
    4. Biodiversity
    5. Recharge rates, evaporation rates

Some of these parameters will be monitored for other lakes as well. However for the purpose of implementation of bioremediation it will be assumed that the nature of raw sewage will mostly be domestic and hence similar to the water coming to other lakes like Herohalli and Jakkur

  1. Evaluation of Bioremediation methodologies
    1. Literature survey
    2. Site visits (might involve out-of-Bangalore travel)
    3. Getting vendors / experts to submit proposals including costs, space requirements, nature of bioremediation etc.
  2. Follow-up workshop with the partners to decide appropriate bio-remediation techniques for each of the lakes
    1. Share the gathered information about all 14 lakes and bio-remediation techniques
    2. Recommendations of appropriate technology for each of the lakes
    3. Implementation plan with budget for about 4-5 lakes
  3. Post workshop, a plan for Piloting some of the bioremediation methodologies on 4-5 lakes will be submitted