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Buying an apartment ? Read this !!!

Posted on June 4, 2008 | Filed Under IWP, IEC Material, RWH, Urban Water

We at the Water Portal, came up with some questions to ask the builder when you are buying an apartment. The more educated you are regarding the way the apartment is handling water, the better decision you are likely to make and one that will benefit you immensely in the long term. The builder does not have a natural incentive to think about wise water management as most of us don’t consider this seriously when buying an apartment. If we demand better water management from the builders, they will automatically respond. .

So here are the talking points. This is only a start, and we welcome more input from others to make this a comprehensive resource that people can use:

About planning for the water supply:
What is the builders’ estimate how much water the building likely to consume daily ? What has been the basis for calculation of different water requirement? Where is the water supply for the building going to come from ? What is the realistic picture for the availability of water from different sources that they are planning for ? What is the backup in case the planned option runs into difficulties ? If municipal water supply, what has been the trend of supply in that area ? If water tankers, where is the tanker supplier getting the water from ? Is the supply likely to be viable in the longer term ? What about potability of water source, have they tested the water quality ?

About using Groundwater
2.) If they are depending on groundwater for some or all of the supply, what is the long term sustainability ? Are there many apartment complexes and offices in the vicinity (or likely to come up soon) in which case the demand on the groundwater will be high and groundwater will deplete quickly ? What is the depth to which they went to hit water in the borewell, compare it to other wells in the locality. Is there a strategy to recharge the groundwater ?

About Rainwater harvesting
3.) Is the builder implementing rainwater harvesting ? Rainwater harvesting, either for direct use or groundwater recharge is going to be an extremely useful source of water as the shortages increase. There is no reason why builders cannot implement RWH other than that people do not insist on it. The more people put pressure, the more likely builders will act on this. Have they even heard of rainwater harvesting and the benefits?

If they are using RWH, ask how the cleanliness of the roof (typically where the water is harvested from) will be ensured. Is there a different tank for RWH water and other water supply. How have they calculated the tank size ? If the RWH water is being used for bathroom purposes or (with proper precautions) for drinking purposes, it will have a real impact on the water requirement for the complex. This will need a separate pipeline system for bathroom and kitchen. Has this been implemented ?

About Wastewater Treatment 4.) Is the wastewater being connected to the city sewage lines ? If not, how is it being handled ? There are strong arguments for implementing a wastewater treatment plant in-house for larger apartment complexes. Not only does it create a source of water for use in landscaping or carwashing, it also reduces pollution of groundwater and reduces strain on the city infrastructure. Again, have they heard of this possibility?

If they are treating wastewater, how are they planning to use or dispose of the treated water. If electricity supply in your area is erratic, does the treatment plant design take that into account ? What will be the process and cost for maintaining the treatment plant ?

Landscaping
5.) Is there a lot of grass and shrubs being planned ? Trees take up less water (and local varieties rather than exotic varieties) are a better option. What are the current plans of watering the green area - the kind of water and the kind of system

Incentivizing water conservation:
6.) The cost of procuring the water for use in the apartment complex is likely to be quite high or is likely to increase rather than decrease. So people need to pay for the water they use rather than paying a fixed amount per apartment. This automatically incentivizes people to conserve water. But when there is no way to measure how much water you are using, there is no way to set up a system that rewards people for using less water. Therefore individual water meters are essential for each apartment ? Are these being installed ?

Water-Saving Devices:
7.) Have the builders installed water-saving devices ? These include low-flow showers, dual flush toilets with smaller tank size, and low-flow tanks.

Other points to think about:

8.) Solid waste management: Is there is a system to segregate garbage into organic and non-organic ? Kitchen waste can be composted locally to provide fertilizer for the garden. Has at least a space been earmarked so that the residents may put a system in place.

9.) Once the Apartment Owner’s Association is in place, it would be good to monitor the water use closely and bill people based on usage. So the water bill for the apartments should be calculated by usage rather than clubbed into the maintenance. Leakages would also need to be monitored. Water loss through leakages and ineffective plumbing is rather large in most housing complexes.

10.) There are several ‘green building’ technologies that are becoming mainstream. These include solar heaters, designing to maximise the use of natural lighting, and to reduce energy requirements for heating or cooling. These kind of technologies will pay off in the long run and need to be incorporated early, as retrofitting will be difficult and more expensive. Builders will start thinking along these lines only if buyers demand these.

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Water pledge

Posted on April 8, 2008 | Filed Under Announcements, IEC Material, Kids

Forwarded to the Portal by Raj Rajaram of IDCA.
This pledge was taken by school and college students in Andhra Pradesh during World Water Day events.

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Bangalore — Gastro-enteritis rears its head

Posted on January 29, 2008 | Filed Under Technology, News, Guest Posts, IEC Material, Audio-Video

S.Vishwanath on the recent incidence of gastro-enteritis due to possibly sewage contaminated water in Bangalore:

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There is a spurt of gastro-enteritis in the city today. Residents think that it is the contaminated mains supply from the BWSSB that is the source of the gastroenteritis. The Bangalore water supply and Sewerage Board thinks it is water bought by residents from the private water tankers that is the cause but then seems to change its mind. An Engineer has been suspended for carelessness and the residents are demonstrating in front of the Head Office of the service provider the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. It is feared that the cause may be the mixing up of sewage and water and its absorption into the water lines.

The real problem
It is the complete inability of the institution (BWSSB) to keep the water lines fully pressurized and available 24 hours a day. It is also the lack of accountability of the institution for the quality of water delivered with a residual chlorine levels as specified,which creates the problem. A re-look is needed at the entire structure of water supply in the city and the endemic problems addressed else we will face the same issue time and again. The leakage in the old water pipes is enormous and of the order of 40%. Pipes have not been replaced or upgraded in many places. The sewage system is defunct. Neither is it collected properly nor is it fully treated. People are not paying the true price for water and sewage collection and treatment and subsidies are mis-targeted. Imagine, it costs the BWSSB Rs 18/- to produce a kilo-litre of water and it supplies the first slab at Rs 6/- a kilo-litre to even the richest houses in Bangalore. If the rich don’t pay the true price for water ,the poor will pay with their health as in this particular outbreak suggests. More money will be spent on water filters and assorted treatment devices for water than in setting the system right.

Unregulated private water supply:In the video picture above is a private water tanker supplying water on the 28th of January 2008 in another part of Bangalore. A tanker load of 4000 litres costs Rs 150/- (approx US 4 $).The leaking tank comes and delivers water untested for quality as an expectant family looks on.The family has to buy water because there is a function in the house and the BWSSB supplied water has run out. A sump tank built to receive the BWSSB water, which comes once in 2 days for 2 hours, is all set to receive the tanker water this time.
A bore well about 525 feet deep is the source of the tanker water. It has a 7.5 H.P pump and it takes 15 minutes to fill the tanker.The tankers operate in a zone of 2 km.. The firm has 3 tankers and altogether on an average day they supply 30 loads in a day making for 120,000 litres daily.The first borewell that the firm dug went dry and so the second new one -deeper of course- supplies the water. The tanker water provider has no system of checking for water quality. There is no regulation of tanker water by any authority.

It is necessary that tanker owners and operators are educated on the methods for checking water quality and adopting simple chlorination to the water they deliver. Even people who buy this water can chlorinate it using bleaching powder and a simple chlroscope to check for residual chlorine. Spreading such water literacy is crucial to the public health of our cities.

Key questions emerge:

Why should not the BWSSB supply enough water for the citizens of Bangalore? Why should not the water come 24/7 in our pipes and with sufficient pressure to reach higher floors? Why don’t citizens demand better service from their service providers? Even when we have gastro-enteritis in the city why do we not look for structural improvements in water supply and sanitation for the whole of the city ? Bangaloreans - please wake up and smell the coffee !!

More:
News article in the Hindu:
http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/29/stories/2008012961220300.htm

What is gastro-enteritis ?

Short film on how to chlorinate your water:

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“Revival of A River” - Hindi

Posted on December 10, 2007 | Filed Under Indian Languages, IEC Material, Audio-Video

Watch a short YouTube movie where Kishore of Sambhaav Trust explains the strategy of going back to the community’s past through the elders and reviving the traditional water systems. Water structures like Johads, Nadis and Anicuts as well as forests were considered common property and hence preserved accordingly. Through a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) exercise, Sambhaav realised that this reviving these structures was vital for any conservation effort to succeed

The second portion with Kishore’s explanation is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGrfKX2bVJM&feature=related

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Demonstrating Biosand filters

Posted on December 3, 2007 | Filed Under Technology, IEC Material, Audio-Video

A majority of the population in the developing world still does not have access to clean drinkable water. Building inexpensive biosand filters with readily available materials, is one way in which villagers in Pakistan are addressing the problem. This video provides a clear explanation and demonstration of an inexpensive ‘Biosand’ water filter for public standposts.

The YouTube URL is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLKwH68LjnM.

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