Lalbagh Park Visit

Today, we visited Lalbagh Park with Suma and Neelima. First, we visited our first step well, which is located near Lalbagh Lake. The well was rejuvenated by Biome this past year. It was previously contaminated with leaf litter and in need of desilting. Suma led the way along the outside of the well through piles of leaves, stomping to ward off any nearby snakes. We made our way safely to the well’s entrance, where we then navigated the ropes for the safety and shade nets that prevent debris from contaminating the open well. 

The entrance to the open step well at Lalbagh Park.

Once under the netting, we had a clear view of the 25 ft wide, 30 ft deep well with stairs descending down the sides, disappearing from view into murky water about 20 ft down. Jody adventurously made his way to the bottom of the stairs to take a TDS measurement (159 PPM), but I stayed at the top and even made sure to grip the wall when I had to go down a few more steps to be visible in a group photo. 

Jody, Chloe, Sophia, and Neelima in the open step well at Lalbagh Park.

After we emerged from the well, Suma took some time to give us more details on the ‘Million Wells for Bengaluru’ campaign. She explained that two of the main aims of the campaign are to create more public awareness about the shallow aquifer and to give livelihood to traditional well diggers. We have been learning a lot in the past few weeks about the importance of well diggers, so it was interesting to also hear about public knowledge of the shallow aquifer. While open wells connected to the shallow aquifer used to be a big water source, once Bangalore began getting water from the Cauvery River, people started using shallow aquifer water less and less. Now, many people do not understand the effectiveness of recharge wells and open wells. The campaign, with the help of Biome and many other NGOs, will hopefully help to bring back this public knowledge of wells so that people can make informed decisions about their water sources. 

We then visited two smaller open wells in the park. Suma explained that both of the wells were filled with lots of trash. One of them required 10-15 tractor loads of trash to be removed! We also heard a slightly happier story: that only two days after restoration of the last open well we saw, there was 10 ft of water in the well. She said that you just need the wells to be rejuvenated and the water will come.