Today, Chloe and I started out the day by meeting Rakshitha at Sonnappanahalli Government School. We jumped right into learning about the rooftop rainwater harvesting system that had been installed by Biome. This system starts out by collecting rainwater from the roof of the school, which is then fed into a pipe system that leads to a Y-joint. The Y-joint allows for rainwater from the first rain that may be contaminated by debris on the roof to be diverted to a reject pipe. After the first rain, once the roof surface is clean, the rest of the water is directed through the other arm of the “Y” to a filter that directs the rainwater through three layers of filtration media: larger stones, charcoal, and smaller stones. After filtration, the water flows into an underground sump tank with a 12000L capacity. Rakshitha explained that this capacity is determined by analyzing annual average rainwater volume. The water in the sump tank then goes into a recharge well that is 4’ in diameter and 15’ in depth. Upon inspection, the recharge well seemed to have very clear water!
The rainwater harvesting system’s Y-joint and filter.
It was very exciting to see a rainwater collection system in use and Rakshitha was very detailed in her explanation of the system. We also learned that before the rainwater system was installed, the school was facing water scarcity and was getting water from tankers, which is quite costly. Currently, the school uses water from the recharge well for washing dishes, gardening, and other cleaning uses. The rainwater would be safe for drinking if it were boiled, but the school still uses reverse osmosis water for drinking purposes, as do many peri-urban areas of Bangalore. The water collected from this rainwater harvesting system is currently meeting the school’s needs for about 100 days out of the year.
I loved being able to see the implementation of a rainwater system and it was very fascinating to see how the school uses it. It made me very excited to visit other schools next week and see how their rainwater harvesting systems have been implemented and how they are using them.
After a nice lunch, we headed to an open well nearby. To our excitement, Mr. Shankar, a well digger who we had met briefly the previous day, was at the well we were visiting. This was quite a nice surprise, as he was very eager to share information and insights about the well. This was probably the largest well I had yet seen, at 25’ in diameter and 65’ in depth! Mr. Shankar passionately showed us many aspects of the well, including two small spouts of water entering the well from the shallow aquifer, which demonstrated that the water table was rising above the well’s current water level. This well is currently providing water to a nearby hotel, college, and a couple of apartment buildings, with plans to also pump water to the nearby village, consisting of about 200 residents. We then traveled a few hundred meters away to another well of similar size. To Chloe’s, Rakshitha’s, and my horror, Mr. Shankar immediately began walking around on top of the metal grate covering the well opening. After some words and encouragement from Mr. Shankar and his jumping up and down to prove to us the structural integrity of the grate, we joined him on the grate for a photo. I can now say that I have stood on top of a 100 year old well!
Chloe, Mr. Shankar, and I on top of the second open well we visited.
With the combined knowledge from Rakshitha and Mr. Shankar, I learned lots and am looking forward to more visits like these. It was very inspiring to spend time with Mr. Shankar and see how undeniably passionate he is about his work. This last open well visit wrapped up our first Wednesday with Biome, and I couldn’t be more excited for the many days to come!
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