27 Edition
April 2022
WOW LEADERS SPEAK
Here are excerpts from the WOW Chennai #08 meeting held on 21 April:
Tangible Inputs Can Make the Difference
Indira Medical Foundation has adopted various water solutions that we have proposed to them. It was because the owners agreed with us when we showed them the tangible benefits of implementing it. And before investing, they understood that they are going to save money, save water, save energy, save carbon footprint which gave them the confidence and accepted most of our solutions. They do have a sewage treatment plant, recycling and reusing water. They have an RO system which generates water for drinking. They did not concentrate on the drinking water situation because they already had an RO and they were a little slow and reluctant to adopt other solutions. But they have adopted rainy filters. They have done aerators. They have invested in recharge wells. They did small things with each of these adding up to many lakhs of litres of water saved every year. They are consciously and willingly wanting to make a change. Now this should be the case with even other hospitals. It's just that the mindset is not there for them to convert until they are convinced that they absolutely need to do it. I'll be very happy to collaborate with Dr B Krishnamurthy who is advising some of these hospitals.
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- Ajith Nair
Reaching out to Hospitals on Water Care and Quality
All I can say is the healthcare industry has not done anything about water reduction or water usage. Whichever hospital I have gone to, I'm very surprised. I did hear about the TDS and the removal of TDS. I cannot believe that the healthcare industry is anywhere concerned about the reduction of water. But unfortunately it's one of the last things which the doctor or management thinks about. All they are bothered about is, Do I have enough water to run for today and will I be able to run for another 2,3 days? Very few hospitals really think about water saving or doing anything to conserve water. So I cannot say that we have helped in any possible way. But unfortunately, if you take any standard either through ISO NABH, the Green OT, Green Hospital standard or any standard you take, they all talk about conservation of water and energy… while very little is done, practically speaking. They just use whatever water comes to them and hospitals are very large consumers.
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- Dr B Krishnamurthy
Excerpts from the WOW Bangalore #33 held on 23 April :
Dirty Naalas can be transformed too
Nearly all of the water we use remains untreated and is discharged into different water bodies because of which our rivers and lakes are dying. In many parts of urban and peri-urban areas. all wastewater flows through open drains due to lack of drainage, infrastructure and treatment infrastructure. Since there is no treatment, there is no reuse. We offer biological systems with plants and microorganisms working to cleanse and purify contaminated water. Untreated water is discharged into local water bodies. So they pollute the water body, with no biodiversity left. The ecosystems become dysfunctional. We usually work upstream. The focus areas are maintaining nutrient balance, to maintain the water flow regulation, and use of local material. So we usually avoid bringing in any cement, concrete or artificial material; this increases the resilience. Ours is a holistic approach or multidisciplinary approach where we try to combine all the stakeholders, blend the best of science and technology.
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- Prasanna Jogdeo
A Temple pond inspires action
Temple tanks are part of all ancient Indian urban architecture. Nearly every temple has a pond where rainwater is collected, or groundwater collects. This was used, over the centuries, throughout the year for bathing and cleansing before visiting the temple. Around the early 70s with the advent of deep borewells, we neglected these kalyani's. And today we are facing the consequences.
I was on a visit to Anekal. When I stopped to wait for my friends to catch up at a street corner, I chanced upon an old temple tank in ruins and great neglect. I took a walk around the area and saw the potential for reviving the tank. That was a little after the covid outbreak. Many months later I visited again, and this time with a mission. I spoke to many residents around the temple and in the town. They explained that it was a very old Kalyani that in disuse for many decades. I made up my mind that I should rejuvenate this Kalyani. From the total mess of overgrown shrubs and trees we transformed the place with community support and a scientific approach to channelizing all the water of the local catchment, to this Kalyani. Once we had a master plan the work began quickly. We constructed a series of channels surrounding a park of about 2 acres. Every rain of just 25 mm gets about 200,000 litres of water. This is channelized to the Kalyani. Such community effort can be inspired in other places too where there are such public places of worship that need attention.
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- Vijayraj Shisodya
WOW MEMBERS SPEAK
The potential of an electric vehicle
e2o completed 99,999 kms since 2013. It is one of the first e2o launched in 2013 March. We got the delivery in July 2013. Same battery pack. Now we get about 72km range in one full charge, while it used to give 100 +km in one charge.
- Neel Mathews
Woman saves water, one tap at a time
Nice! BWSSB generally gives Jal Puraskar to citizens. You should be one among them.
- Suresh Prakash
RWH initiative of our association
Sharing this RWH initiative of our association manager, Mr Chetan. It came as a surprise to me as he shared this. Despite the fact I am actively encouraging my neighbourhood apartments and independent houses for past few years.
Size of pit 3.5x3.5x12 feet on a 30x40 site at Begur. This pit is also the borewell where filtered rainwater is collected. Yesterday's sudden shower in Bangalore was his first intake to the RWH pit . Though the work is still in progress he wanted to share this good work.
He is also doing RO filter water reusing. I am really proud of him and his actions. He also assisted our plumbers to set up RWH (with storage) outside our colony gate.
- Suresh Prakash
Water scarcity hits Pune
Will Bangalore follow Pune? Such an effort going without recognition from the water Board.
The report further states that Pune Municipal Corporation is not able to meet basic demand on water and phones of senior officials are switched off in PMC. Pride World city with 2000 flats spends Rs. 20 lakhs pm on water alone!! This may happen to Bangalore shortly if we don’t take water conservation measures !!
- Suresh A Pai
Thanks Suresh! I shared it too. My friend's response was "Maharashtra is moving into load shedding too after a long time due to coal shortage. The Water scarcity keeps repeating. I remember between 2016 & 2019 my family was in Pune and we had these issues where the society had to keep buying water. Everybody needs an RO system even to have water to cook , drink and bath that RO business is another vaccine business.
- Neel Mathews
These are extracts of conversations of WOW members in the Core Executive Group. Add your comments, views
Water Sustainability Management of Chennai
Here’s an eight-step method to harness rainwater harvesting’s potential to solve Chennai’s water woes
Raindrops keep falling on my head..." was a popular song of the 70s sung by B.J Thomas in the film ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid’. The song conjured visions of gentleness, idyllic surroundings and enjoyment of nature. Nature gives abundant rain and if the beautiful experience of raindrops falling can be given another dimension by attempting to hold every raindrop, in other words rainwater harvesting (RWH), it could well be the panacea for the water woes of Chennai. Just as solar power is a free source of electricity, so also is rainfall, for water. However, unlike solar energy that requires significant capital investment for conversion, RWH is inexpensive.
India’s first digital water bank sets up shop in Bengaluru
India, and possibly the world, got its first digital water bank, an initiative to aggregate water resources under a single platform, on Monday.
India, and possibly the world, got its first digital water bank, an initiative to aggregate water resources under a single platform, on Monday. Science and Technology Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, who inaugurated the water bank in Bengaluru, extended the state government’s full support for the initiative, undertaken by AquaKraft Ventures, a company that specialises in sustainable initiatives to provide drinking water and sanitation to all.
The Sustainable Development Goals Report - 2019
From the United Nations
Four years after signing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, countries have taken action to integrate the Goals and targets into their national development plans and to align policies and institutions behind them. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019 uses the latest available data to track global progress on the SDGs and to take stock of how far we have come in realising our commitments. The report shows that, while advances have been made in some areas, monumental challenges remain. The evidence and data spotlight areas that require urgent attention and more rapid progress to realise the 2030 Agenda’s far-reaching vision.
The most urgent area for action is climate change. If we do not cut record-high greenhouse gas emissions now, global warming is projected to reach 1.5°C in the coming decades. As we are already seeing, the compounded effects will be catastrophic and irreversible: increasing ocean acidification, coastal erosion, extreme weather conditions, the frequency and severity of natural disasters, continuing land degradation, loss of vital species and the collapse of ecosystems. These effects, which will render many parts of the globe uninhabitable, will affect the poor the most. They will put food production at risk, leading to widespread food shortages and hunger, and potentially displace up to 140 million people by 2050. The clock for taking decisive actions on climate change is ticking.
VIDEO FEATURE
COMMENDATION AWARDS
Alt. Tech Foundation is a not-for-profit, for-industry Foundation for
(i) producing sustainability managers and leaders,
(ii) providing green management skill sets,
(iii) hosting city-wide campaigns for citizen collective action to save water & energy,
(iv) purposing research for city infrastructure.
WOW Action Forum is a globally pioneering effort for bringing collective private action to save very large quantities of water at apartments, at Industry, at tech parks, or hotels and hospitals or malls and other such buildings. The 2021 mission is set to save 1000 Cr lites with community-led action. This alone will bring a saving of 236 Cr in electricity bills for the city, and a reduction in carbon emission of nearly 300,000 tonnes equivalent.