The Alternative
(Similar Initiative : 22nd Mar 2013)
Help us catch every drop
We city dwellers have a tap-and-flush relationship with water. We turn on the tap, water flows, we use it. We press our flush, all our waste is gone, and we forget about it. Water shortage feels like a summer problem. We look at the city administration and wonder why our taps have to run dry. We look at our overflowing drains during rains and wonder when our flailing infrastructure will keep up with growth.
For us at The Alternative, working on a water conservation campaign and wondering if there is any way we can contribute to solving the problem has been a watershed experience, no less!
We realized just how much there is to water supply and management in a city that is bursting at its seams, like ours is. We live in a city that has been pumping 1,150 million litres per day of water from a 100 kms away, using technology and power to bring it over a height of 500 mts, which is huge technological innovation. Every conceivable sewage treatment plant has been set up and used in Bangalore, 14 of them, to combat the 1.1 billion litres of sewage we produce out of our homes every day.
Each one of us consumes over 250 litres on an average every day, but cities can only plan supply for 150 litres per capita. We don’t treat our sewage, we let it pollute our ground water even as we suck up groundwater dry through bore wells. We treat our lakes and tanks that are great freshwater sources with scant respect – we see garbage, we add to it. At the centre of the water problem in this city is us. And the solution? Us.
Through Catch Every Drop, our water conservation campaign, we have discovered just how much we can do as individuals – in our kitchens, showers, gardens, rooftops, in public spaces and while we travel.
Scores of apartments, homes and layouts in the city have implemented pioneering water conservation measures – rain water harvesting, sewage treatment, ground recharge, individual metering and more, that we can learn from.
There is frenetic activity going on in the city to conserve our proud heritage of lakes and tanks – 262 of them at one point. Our involvement will only mean more freshwater bodies, better water tables, more rain and beautiful birds and trees in our own backyards!
We invite you this World Water Day, to take a pledge to save water – harvest, reuse, recycle and refresh this life giving source. And we have placed all that we have discovered in a neat downloadable package of everyday tips and ideas, posters to motivate our communities, stories of how people have done it, nifty calculation sheets, infographics and expert pieces, quizzes for the daring and more.
Catch Every Drop is becoming the start of a big movement for water conservation in Bangalore – from print newspapers to campuses, schools, corporates and homes, many have come forward to further this initiative in their institutions.
World Water Day, 22nd and 23rd of March, we are starting off with an array of exciting events – panel discussions with water experts, apartment open houses, guided tours in water parks, lake photo walks and activities, photo exhibitions and more. www.thealternative.in/ worldwaterday has a detailed schedule of everything that is happening in the city.
We look forward to your invaluable support in sustaining this into a participative movement that can transform our city into a water wise one.
Catch Every Drop is a campaign on water conservation in Bengaluru, run by The Alternative, a media platform for sustainable living. The campaign is sponsored by Arghyam, with partners India Water Portal and Biome Environmental Solutions. More at www.thealternative.in/ catcheverydrop
Warm Regards,
The Alternative Team