Theobserverissue25

The Observer An IIJNM Publication

Citizens unite to save Agara lake from ruin like other water bodies | P 2

Vol 18, Issue 25

BWSSB will try to restore city’s ecosystem

On the web: issuu.com/ theweeklyobserver/docs/the observer

This village is supplied water once in 15 days

G. Manashaa

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Manikankana Sengupta

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While BWSSB chairman Tushar Giri Nath belives Bengaluru will not run out of water, others say that ground water, one of the most important resources, must be reused and respected | Courtesy: KPN that is gathering momentum.

The problems are complex and intertwined and, therefore, the solutions need to be holistic and integrated. New institutional models are needed for water governance. Regulatory framework, standards and manuals should be reviewed and updated. It is important to understand that management is the key. City planning must consider the carrying capacity of its ecosystem.”

Dinesh K Poswal, founder of Rebound Enviro Tech Pvt. Ltd, a company set up by a group of Titians and social workers, said: “Recycle waste water. The attitude towards water should be reuse-oriented. Waste water has to be treated within society.

It should not be let out without treatment. Constructed wetlands help immensely to conserve water. We should keep our water-treatment systems away from the water bodies. It affects

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Government scheme for pregnant and lactating women is a failure | P 2

Nature-based solutions in focus on Water Day

he Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and the Bangalore Jalamandali Abhiyantarara Sangha (BJAS) came together on the occasion of World Water Day to focus on various naturebased solutions to fight Bengaluru’s water-related challenges.

The organizations launched a campaign to increase public awareness about nature-based solutions. Named ‘The answer is in nature’, the campaign will aim at restoring Bengaluru’s ecosystem, which has undergone a gradual degradation.

BWSSB chairman Tushar Giri Nath informed The Observer: “Putting recycled water back in circulation is a very important step to conserve water. Bengaluru has been the topic of conversation lately about running out of water, but that will not happen.” Nature-based solutions include planting more trees to increase the forest cover, linking rivers to the floodplains, and restoring wetlands.

Ganapathy Ganeshan, senior adviser at the Consortium for Dewats Dissemination Society, said: “Urban water management needs a new imagination. Urban water bodies are neglected assets today. It is everyone’s concern. Decentralized waste water management is a powerful idea

Thursday, March 22, 2018

The Observer

the entire ecosystem. We have to think about rural water waste management as well. The focus is always on urban water waste.”

Sanjeev Sharma, member of a Delhi-based NGO called Force, spoke about the 5 Rs. of water.

“Reduce water wastage, reuse used water, recharge groundwater, recycle and reuse waste water and, most importantly, respect water. Groundwater is one of the most important sources..

There is no inter-state rivalry. It cannot be taken away. If we use this water effectively, we do not need Cauvery water. According to a WHO report, a person needs 100 litres of water per day, but in Bangalore, each person gets around 209 litres per day. So the problem is not the amount of water we get but how we use it.”

BJAS is a platform for BWSSB engineers to interact, educate and redress grievances. manikankana.s@iijnm.org

he groundwater level in Joga village in Honnali taluk, Davanagere district, has been depleting for the past three years. Compounding the problem is an increased demand for water due to rising population. The situation has forced authorities to now limit water supply to once in 15 days.

The three borewells in the village, dug at a cost of Rs 1.5 lakh each, has water 350-400 feet below the ground level. But some villagers insist that water is not found even at 600 feet.

“According to officials and villagers, river water is depleting, and so are the borewells. The land is drying up. Scanty rainfall has led to a water shortage. No rainwater harvesting is practised here,” said G.B. Vijay Kumar, a resident of Joga. River water is supplied only till Nyamathi, 65 km from the district headquarters. Villages like Joga, Savalanga and Suragondanakoppa are not covered.

Bhagyam H, a farmer and part-time daily-wages worker, told The Observer: “For the past three years, we have not witnessed much rain. With groundwater depleting, one has to carry water from nearby ponds for everyday use.” Production of crops has been disturbed due to the water scarcity.

To help farmers make do with the available water, the government has introduced drip irrigation in the village.

Honnali taluk received an average rainfall of 600.8 mm in 2015 and 354.8 mm in 2016. Figures for 2017 are unavailable.

Gram panchayat member Murgesh G, stated: “The village hasn’t had proper rain over the past three years. The average level of rainfall recorded in this village is less than 800 mm.

Sometimes that goes below 600 mm.” People of the village say they do not wash clothes and avoid bathing because of the dire situation.

Maize farmer Lokesh K.H. said: “Water is required for both cattle and personal use. As I own two acres of land, lots of water is required for irrigation.”

Asked about how the crisis can be resolved, Honnali tahasildar Nagaraj NJ said the government can adopt a watershed management system that it should monitor from time to time. He refused to say why this was not done before.

Asked about rainwater harvesting, gram panchayat members said: “Not many know about the conservation of rainwater.”

N.K. Basurajappa, a member of the Chinnikatte gram panchayat, said: “More farm ponds must be made available.

Water lifting must be made mandatory as borewells are already drying up. To utilise the water that is left for irrigation, farmers have now started practising drip irrigation, where every drop of water is utilised without wastage.” manashaa.g@iijnm.org

We expect party to retain power, say Cong workers Ayushi Singh

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he Congress Campaigning Committee for the Banashankari block on Thursday held a rally at Cubbon Park opposing the BJP’s Hindutva politics. Amid slogan-shouting by the participants, some functionaries said

they expect the Congress to win a majority in the upcoming Karnataka state assembly elections and retain power.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Amit Patil told The Observer: “People should be together for the progress of the state and not allow religion-based politics to

hamper development.”

When asked about Bengaluru’s problems of potholes and traffic jams, he said: “The chief minister and the persons concerned are working towards (solving) these problems. Many places in the city have already been made pothole-free.”

Mobina, a resident of Shanti-

nagar, Bangalore, told The Observer: “I am supporting the rally. The party has always looked at progress and has worked towards it over the years. We face no issues at all because of the kind of work the Congress has been doing.”

Not all were impressed, though. Like Ashok, who was

visiting Cubbon Park. “I am stuck in traffic for hours every day. The government claims to have done a lot of work, but this problem remains as it was. They haven’t come up with a solution yet. I think we should keep changing the government every election,” Ashok said. ayushi.s@iijnm.org

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CITY

Citizens unite to save Agara lake from ruin Prevent people from dumping trash in drain

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Ayushi Singh

People who visit the lake park carry paper and bottles, and since they are not allowed to litter in the park/lake, they dump it in the drain | Credit: Rachel Dammala health inspectors, go on patrol to curb waste disposal at night.

Asked if the BBMP and other civic agencies were of any help, the residents said they contacted assistant executive engineer Gopal Reddy, who was doing his job well. But that isn’t enough; personal civic responsibility is the only solution. The residents fear that the drain will soon become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, adding to their problems. “We are trying our best to help prevent any further damage to the lakes around by educating other residents and government workers.”

The Lake Development Authority said it was informed about another issue: Waste segregation by the BBMP near the Sewage Treatment Plant that is coming up next to the lake. With garbage trucks parked there for long hours, liquid waste enters the lake through the drain. “We have already written to the BBMP regarding this, but they never got back.

We are trying our best to clear this as quickly as possible,” said Seema Garg, CEO of the Lake Development Authority.

Hanumesh, a gardener at the lake’s park, said: “People who visit the lake park carry paper

and bottles. Since they are not allowed to litter in the park, they dump it all in the drain.”A resident said that they have caught garbage vans dumping waste into the drain.

A survey of 105 lakes in Bengaluru conducted last year showed that only four lakes seemed to be in a good condition, while 25 were “in a very bad state, fully covered with macrophytes or dumped with solid or liquid waste and with little or no water”.

The survey, led by Prof.

Ramachandra TV from the Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, said the four lakes were in a good shape because residents were taking the initiative to maintain them.

Fish deaths were reported at the Sankey lake at Sadashivanagar in 2015. A study on ‘Fish Mortality in Bengaluru Lakes’ revealed that the fish kill was due to “a sudden and considerable fall in dissolved oxygen levels in some locations caused by sewage let into the lake resulting in asphyxiation.”

Fish deaths have also been reported in the Lalbagh, Jakkur and Munnekolala lakes. dammala.r@iijnm.org

Govt’s scheme for pregnant and lactating women a flop Pracheta Panja

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he Karnataka government’s Mathru Poorna scheme to provide nutritious food to pregnant and lactating women in rural areas seems to have no takers in Hosanagara taluk of Shivamogga district. None of the 1,800 registered beneficiaries goes to the anganwadis to eat meals provided under the scheme. They say they are too weak to travel, have other children to care for, or the nearest anganwadi is too far from their homes.

T. Raju, first division assis-

Shikaripur villagers in need of proper medical attention Ambulances arrive late, people have to borrow private vehicles

Rachel Dammala itizens stepped in, regulated disposal of waste and educated people when the storm water drain at Agara lake near Begur, became a garbage dump.

Residents of the area foresaw the danger and took it upon themselves to try and clean the drain up. Mohan Govindaiah, a resident of Auckland who was visiting the city, said he was aghast to see this happening. He joined various citizens’ groups that came together to help clean the water body. “We had a problem last monsoon because of dumping of waste. People haven’t learnt any lessons and continue to use the storm water drain as a dumping ground,” he informed The Observer.

Besides plastic bottles and bags, vegetable waste, offal, coconut shells and sanitary napkins find their way into the drain. If the trash lands in the lake, it could pose a threat to marine organisms. The lake is home to many migratory birds.

Smitha Kulkarni, a resident of the area and member of a volunteer group in HSR Layout, said that it is as much the locals’ responsibility as it is the government’s. “We realized that cleaning up the lake time and again would not help, and preventing waste disposal was the best way to deal with the situation. At one point, we opened garbage bags, traced people, educated them and advised them against irresponsible waste disposal. Now, authorities are doing the same.”

Some residents, along with

The Observer Thursday, March 22, 2018

tant officer of the Child Development Project, women and child welfare, Hosanagara, said: “Every day, 1,800 women are getting their food in a total of 345 anganwadis.”

Jayalakshmi, who has a small baby, informed The Observer: “It’s difficult for me to go every day with my newborn child to have a meal. The anganwadi is too far. My husband works in a field, and I have two other children. I can’t pay Rs 100 for an autorickshaw ride to the nearest anganwadi every day.”

What does she eat at home?

“Rice and rasam,” Jayalakshmi

says with a smile. Her childbirth reports say she has acute anemia and needs a proper diet.

“My daughter-in-law is expecting, but it is difficult for her to travel on this uneven road in her advanced stage. Sometimes I accompany her, but it is not possible every day as I need to go to the field to work,” Chandramma said.

Dr Lingaraja G.B., a doctor in the Hosanagara taluk hospital, said: “Most women are anemic which causes difficulties during and after pregnancy for both the mother and the newborn.” pracheta.p@iijnm.org

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ack of health facilities and doctors has forced residents of villages in Shikaripur to travel to the taluk headquarters. Begur is one such village. Residents say ambulances arrive late, forcing people to borrow vehicles to take patients to hospital. Some women in labour gave birth in ambulances that could not make it in time.

“I have lived in this village for 41 years. No government has taken any initiative to build even a small clinic in the village.

We have to visit the taluk general hospital,” said Moula Saab Saudagar, an ayurveda practitioner in Shikaripura.

Moula Saab’s son Zakir M Saudagar informed The Observer: “We urged the previous government to construct a PHC. Since nothing happened, people stopped complaining and found it easier to come to us.”

When a case is complicated or serious, Zakir refers it to the taluk government hospital, which is 15 km away. He has a collection of basic medicines

that he hands out at his home clinic. When asked where he got his medical education from, he replied, “I graduated from a medical college in Gadag”. Marwali and Mattigotey are other villages bereft of basic healthcare facilities “Most villages have a PHC or a clinic run by a private doctor.

Those that lack medical facilities come to the taluk hospital for treatment. We plan to reach out to these villages. If a village does not have a PHC, a doctor from the government hospital will visit it every week.” said Pandu S., a senior health officer in Shikaripur Taluk.

“When my pregnant daughterin-law had to be taken to the hospital, we called an ambulance that took more than an hour to arrive. So we had to borrow a car and take her to the hospital.

We were lucky to get the vehicle timely; otherwise, many a time the delivery takes place in the ambulance,” Mobina Bano, 65, a resident of Marwali village, Shikaripura, shared.

Inadequate transport is another problem. The residents say just two buses ply between their villages and the taluk in a day.

Amid electioneering by bigwigs of different parties, nobody has visited the villages to even promise medical facilities. The residents seem to have learnt to live with the situation.

Dr. Zakir. M. Saudagar in the room where he keeps all the basic medicines that the villagers might require. Pleas to construct a PHC were ignored, he says. | Credit: Ayushi Singh

Observer Team Editor: Rachel Dammala News Editor: Manashaa Ganesan Copy Editor: Pracheta Panja Page Layout: Athul.M Reporters: Ayushi Singh, Manikankana Sengupta