With all the talukas in the Bengaluru Urban district being declared drought-hit, Bengaluru has also introduced a penalty of Rs 5,000 for wasting drinking water as the city grapples with an acute water shortage.
With tanker prices shooting up, the common person faces the most issues in their everyday life.
Interestingly, the residents of ‘The Greens’ society in Bengaluru took charge of the situation by implementing three major solutions that cut down their water consumption by half!
Its residents, Amal Padmanabhan and Ajit Padniker, came up with a three-point solution of installing flow metres in each house, harvesting rainwater, and installing a sewage treatment plant.
Accountability with flow metresThe society installed a flow metre on the terrace to penalise heavy users and incentivise those who saved water. Residents were forced to pay for each litre that they used.
The step was not meant to be a punishment, but rather a report card of how much water they used versus how much they could save. The move cost them over Rs 24 lakh – about Rs 14,000 per flat.
Rainwater harvestingAll the terraces of the complex were connected to two separate filters. PVC pipes connected these filters to underground sumps and borewell recharge points.
So each time it rains, the housing society recharges its water sumps, reducing their dependence on purchased water.
Sewage Treatment Plant—to reuse waterIn 2016, the residents decided to use excess water from their Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) for their flushes. With this, they save about 2-3 tankers worth of water every day.
Until 2016, they collectively spent an average of Rs 16 lakh every year on the water. This amount was reduced to Rs 7 lakh in 2018 – almost half!
Initially, where they would previously use about four tankers each month, they are now using an average of 1-2. Today, each of the 600-odd residents are reaping the benefits.