2018-2019
Workshop on groundwater recharge at Rainbow Drive
Biome organised a workshop on groundwater recharge and the Million Wells for Bengaluru campaign at Rainbow Drive on 30 March 2019, which was very well attended.
Biodiversity walk at Jakkur Lake
As part of Citizen Science and Lakes, Biome and ATREE organised a biodiversity walk at Jakkur Lake on March 30, 2019.
Workshop on groundwater and wastewater for Bellandur RWAs
A group of Resident Welfare Associations from Bellandur invited Shubha from Biome and Dr Ananth Kodavasal to talk about groundwater and wastewater respectively, at Mantri Glades apartments on 10 March 2019. After this, the group decided to dig 2500 recharge wells in Bellandur.
Kaikondrahallli Kere Habba 2019
Biome and ATREE set up a stall at the Kaikondrahalli Kere Habba on Citizen Science and the Lakes Dashboard on February 17, 2019.
Display board at Kaikondrahalli Lake
As part of Citizen Science and Lakes, Biome spearheaded the creation and installation of a display board at Kaikondrahalli Lake.
Lakshya 2019 at St Joseph’s College
Biome Trust was invited to participate in an inter-collegiate competitive event on underground water depletion called Lakshya 2019 organised by St Joseph’s College of Commerce on January 11, 2019.
Varthur wetlands workshop
Biome along with Sensing Local, Whitefield Rising and Varthur Rising organised a participatory planning workshop on wetlands for Varthur Lake, on January 5, 2019.
Urban Wetlands Management at AAETI
Biome Trust conducted a session on Stakeholder Mapping and Engagement at CSE’s training program on Urban Wetlands Management at AAETI, Nimli, Rajasthan from September 25-28, 2018.
BBC covers wastewater reuse in Bengaluru
Biome Trust featured in BBC’s reports on groundwater depletion and wastewater reuse in Bengaluru.
NDTV: Will Bengaluru Run Out Of Water Soon?
Biome Trust featured in NDTV’s report on the water issues of Bengaluru, following Niti Aayog’s report on Bengaluru running out of water.
Tree plantation on World Environment Day
As part of the Devanahalli 10 schools project, Biome organised a tree plantation event at Arsenahalli and Gangavara Government Schools for Wipro employees on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5, 2018.
Talk at TIFR-ICTS Women and Science’s Summer School
Shubha Ramachandran was invited to speak at TIFR-ICTS Women and Science’s Summer School for Women in Mathematics and Statistics on May 2018
Visit to Durgadahalli
The Biome team visited the Craft Space and Janastu at Durgadahalli to learn about livelihood options using reeds like typha and other natural fibres. The visit took place in April 2018.
Trainings and internships
GCIL: Biome hosted four interns from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA as part of their course called the Grand Challenges Impact Lab. The interns spent 8-9 weeks with Biome and worked on evaluating RWH in four schools in Devanahalli, created documentation and handholding manuals for teachers and funding organizations elaborating on the rainwater harvesting systems in the schools
Bhoomi College: Biome conducts a 3-4 day workshop at Bhoomi College every year as part of their courses on introduction to water. The workshop involves a few classroom sessions and site visits. The site visit this time was to Mugalur to familiarize students to wastewater reuse in agriculture
Leaders’ Quest: Leaders’ Quest (LQ) is a social enterprise that works with business, NGO and civil society leaders to enhance their impact in today’s fast-changing world. Through experiential learning journeys (called ‘quests’), they bring together individuals from all walks of life to deepen their sense of purpose and enhance personal impact. This year 10-12 leaders visited Jakkur Lake to understand the ecosystem
PGWMD continued
- Preliminary understanding of aquifer regimes and aquifer-lake connects in as much of a participatory manner as possible
- Primary calculations about water balances and land use changes at appropriate levels/scales within the boundary were undertaken
- Furthering the conversations with Bangalore International Airport and the SEZ
Wetlands
- The InStream system model drain has been implemented at Saul Kere. Biome facilitated implementation of the same
- Following documents have been created: Wetlands primer, Wetlands management manual, Wetland management framework, a document on understanding, engaging and managing wetlands
- Biome helped with the organisation of the REimagiNEWaste3 Hackathon and helped mentor the teams working on lakes and WETLANDS
- Biome anchored a session on Stakeholder Mapping and Engagement at Anil Agarwal Environment Training Institute
- Biome co-anchored the participatory design workshop for the design of the Varthur wetland along with Sensing Local
- Engaging with the Forest Department in an experiment planting mangroves at Upper Ambalipura and Agara lakes
- Connecting Janastu with lake groups for exploring livelihood options from wetlands
- Organisation of a lake visioning exercise for the Nallurhalli lake stakeholders
- Continuing to stay involved with the lake group and resolving queries
- Helping in the rejuvenation and the design of the wetland at Kannamangala lake
- Trip to Lakshmisagara to see and understand the treated wastewater pumping from Bangalore to Kolar
Citizen Science and Lakes cont’d
- System maps for identifying issues with lakes as well as their root causes were created
- Nature walks were organised at Jakkur Lake and Rachenahalli Lake.
- The team participated in the Kere Habba at Kaikondrahalli Lake to increase awareness on lakes and lake conservation.
- The team trained with the FFEM kit to be able to monitor water quality at a lake. This kit was then introduced for water quality testing at Jakkur Lake
- Participated in the Water Impactathon to develop improvements to the FFEM water quality testing kit
- Display boards were set up at Jakkur and Kaikondrahalli Lakes that show a map of the lake and its salient features
Monitoring and maintaining the RWH systems in the ten schools in Devanahalli
- Formation of informal project watch committees comprising of students and teachers in the schools
- Teacher handholding manual for schools have been created
- Maintenance manual for each school
- Regular repair and maintenance activities conducted
- Stakeholder meeting of all school representatives was held. Block Education Officer of the taluk also attended the event
- A movie documenting the project
2018 - 2019
Workshop on groundwater recharge at Rainbow Drive
Biome organised a workshop on groundwater recharge and the Million Wells for Bengaluru campaign at Rainbow Drive on 30 March 2019, which was very well attended.
Biodiversity walk at Jakkur Lake
As part of Citizen Science and Lakes, Biome and ATREE organised a biodiversity walk at Jakkur Lake on March 30, 2019.
Workshop on groundwater and wastewater for Bellandur RWAs
A group of Resident Welfare Associations from Bellandur invited Shubha from Biome and Dr Ananth Kodavasal to talk about groundwater and wastewater respectively, at Mantri Glades apartments on 10 March 2019. After this, the group decided to dig 2500 recharge wells in Bellandur.
Kaikondrahallli Kere Habba 2019
Biome and ATREE set up a stall at the Kaikondrahalli Kere Habba on Citizen Science and the Lakes Dashboard on February 17, 2019.
Display board at Kaikondrahalli Lake
As part of Citizen Science and Lakes, Biome spearheaded the creation and installation of a display board at Kaikondrahalli Lake.
Lakshya 2019 at St Joseph’s College
Biome Trust was invited to participate in an inter-collegiate competitive event on underground water depletion called Lakshya 2019 organised by St Joseph’s College of Commerce on January 11, 2019.
Varthur wetlands workshop
Biome along with Sensing Local, Whitefield Rising and Varthur Rising organised a participatory planning workshop on wetlands for Varthur Lake, on January 5, 2019.
Urban Wetlands Management at AAETI
Biome Trust conducted a session on Stakeholder Mapping and Engagement at CSE’s training program on Urban Wetlands Management at AAETI, Nimli, Rajasthan from September 25-28, 2018.
BBC covers wastewater reuse in Bengaluru
Biome Trust featured in BBC’s reports on groundwater depletion and wastewater reuse in Bengaluru.
NDTV: Will Bengaluru Run Out Of Water Soon?
Biome Trust featured in NDTV’s report on the water issues of Bengaluru, following Niti Aayog’s report on Bengaluru running out of water.
Tree plantation on World Environment Day
As part of the Devanahalli 10 schools project, Biome organised a tree plantation event at Arsenahalli and Gangavara Government Schools for Wipro employees on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5, 2018.
Talk at TIFR-ICTS Women and Science’s Summer School
Shubha Ramachandran was invited to speak at TIFR-ICTS Women and Science’s Summer School for Women in Mathematics and Statistics on May 2018
Visit to Durgadahalli
The Biome team visited the Craft Space and Janastu at Durgadahalli to learn about livelihood options using reeds like typha and other natural fibres. The visit took place in April 2018.
Trainings and internships
GCIL: Biome hosted four interns from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA as part of their course called the Grand Challenges Impact Lab. The interns spent 8-9 weeks with Biome and worked on evaluating RWH in four schools in Devanahalli, created documentation and handholding manuals for teachers and funding organizations elaborating on the rainwater harvesting systems in the schools
Bhoomi College: Biome conducts a 3-4 day workshop at Bhoomi College every year as part of their courses on introduction to water. The workshop involves a few classroom sessions and site visits. The site visit this time was to Mugalur to familiarize students to wastewater reuse in agriculture
Leaders’ Quest: Leaders’ Quest (LQ) is a social enterprise that works with business, NGO and civil society leaders to enhance their impact in today’s fast-changing world. Through experiential learning journeys (called ‘quests’), they bring together individuals from all walks of life to deepen their sense of purpose and enhance personal impact. This year 10-12 leaders visited Jakkur Lake to understand the ecosystem
PGWMD continued
- Preliminary understanding of aquifer regimes and aquifer-lake connects in as much of a participatory manner as possible
- Primary calculations about water balances and land use changes at appropriate levels/scales within the boundary were undertaken
- Furthering the conversations with Bangalore International Airport and the SEZ
Wetlands
- The InStream system model drain has been implemented at Saul Kere. Biome facilitated implementation of the same
- Following documents have been created: Wetlands primer, Wetlands management manual, Wetland management framework, a document on understanding, engaging and managing wetlands
- Biome helped with the organisation of the REimagiNEWaste3 Hackathon and helped mentor the teams working on lakes and WETLANDS
- Biome anchored a session on Stakeholder Mapping and Engagement at Anil Agarwal Environment Training Institute
- Biome co-anchored the participatory design workshop for the design of the Varthur wetland along with Sensing Local
- Engaging with the Forest Department in an experiment planting mangroves at Upper Ambalipura and Agara lakes
- Connecting Janastu with lake groups for exploring livelihood options from wetlands
- Organisation of a lake visioning exercise for the Nallurhalli lake stakeholders
- Continuing to stay involved with the lake group and resolving queries
- Helping in the rejuvenation and the design of the wetland at Kannamangala lake
- Trip to Lakshmisagara to see and understand the treated wastewater pumping from Bangalore to Kolar
Citizen Science and Lakes cont’d
- System maps for identifying issues with lakes as well as their root causes were created
- Nature walks were organised at Jakkur Lake and Rachenahalli Lake.
- The team participated in the Kere Habba at Kaikondrahalli Lake to increase awareness on lakes and lake conservation.
- The team trained with the FFEM kit to be able to monitor water quality at a lake. This kit was then introduced for water quality testing at Jakkur Lake
- Participated in the Water Impactathon to develop improvements to the FFEM water quality testing kit
- Display boards were set up at Jakkur and Kaikondrahalli Lakes that show a map of the lake and its salient features
Monitoring and maintaining the RWH systems in the ten schools in Devanahalli
- Formation of informal project watch committees comprising of students and teachers in the schools
- Teacher handholding manual for schools have been created
- Maintenance manual for each school
- Regular repair and maintenance activities conducted
- Stakeholder meeting of all school representatives was held. Block Education Officer of the taluk also attended the event
- A movie documenting the project