Meeting with Gautham Ravichander from WISA-Janaagraha

shekhar_mittal - 18-APR-2010

I met Gautham Ravichandar who is co-ordinating the new WISA project at Janagrahaaa. I wanted to find out the extent to which they are tracking water in their index and see if there is any way we can collaborate.

So, WISA has hired around 50 people who are going to each and every ward to collect the required info. Once TOI publishes the data they plan to make it open for everyone. I am not sure whether they will make it online but people can go to their office and access that data.

Their focus is more on creating some sort of a quality of life index. The categories they are going to cover are 

1. BWSSB Supply - 1 thing to notice is that the plan to track the BIS Benchmarks measuring with the help of a NABH accredited lab.

2. Parks and Playgrounds

3. Sewage and Sanitation - Public Toilets

4. Mobility

5. Environment - Air Pollution, Green Cover

Bangalore Bore well data

Rithesh - 16-APR-2010

Total number of borewells in all BWSSB zones: 

31/01/09

28/02/09

31/03/09

30/04/09

31/05/09

Malathahalli Lake - Flushed out - Now a dry lake

Neeyathi_hemmige - 14-APR-2010

Hi Prajas,

I stay in Malathahalli , especially close to Malathahalli Lake  When we moved in to this location, we really liked it as it was very calm, a perfect place to live amid nature, a lake close by and lot of trees. The lake was streching upto 7 acres ..

Unfortunately this was a short lived paradise, as i see that the authoriities have forcibly removed the water from the lake and now its a dry land. Upon enquiry, I was told that the BDA has taken-up this project and that would re-create a mini lalbagh and that they would introduce boating etc etc..

What I am worried about is that the water condition in the state is pathetic and if they forcibly dry out a natural lake then what.. Recently there was an artilce in Deccan Herald about the city bore-wells are drying up...

I am not sure if this information is true, however some activity is being conducted. Can you please if anyone who is reading this post have insight to this piece of activity. Thank you in anticipation.

Kind Regards,

Neeyathi

Meeting with Prof Sekhar Muddu

shekhar_mittal - 13-APR-2010

Prof Muddu is a hydrogeologist at Civil Deptt IISc.

One can read about him here

All those who can make it, please confirm.

-Shekhar

MoM with Prof TV Ramachandran

shekhar_mittal - 12-APR-2010

Attendees: Neha Dar, Jim Gowda and myself.

We meet Prof Ramachandran from Center for Ecological Studies, IISc this saturday. Even though, he blasted us for not doing anything after our last meeting with him (read about it here), he spent over 2 hours with us discussing this project among other things. I like to call this meeting "He pulled up our socks" session.

Some of the points which were discussed are

MoM - Meeting with Mr. Thippeswamy

Neha_Dar - 12-APR-2010

Attendees: Shekhar Mittal, Jim Gowda, Zenrainman Sir, Manjari Vishnoi, Neha Dar

We met Mr Thippeswamy, Retd. Chief Engineer (BWSSB) on Saturday at IISc. Meeting minutes captured below.

• Mr. Thippeswamy reviewed our initial list of parameters and had the following remarks:       

             (1) Coverage - As per the Act, BWSSB must provide water supply to Bangalore Metropolitan Area. Only 50% has been covered.

             (2) Unaccounted for Water: This is really a subset of Non-revenue water. Both physical and commercial. Water is also lost due to cleaning of reservoirs, unexpected pipe bursts, supply to fire hydrants, etc.

             (3) Slum Coverage: It is not the BWSSB 's prerogative to proactively provide coverage to slums. Slum Clearance Boards/BBMP/BDA come to them with proposals, which they then implement.

Meeting Mr Tippeswamy

shekhar_mittal - 9-APR-2010

A meeting has been set up with Mr Tippeswamy (Ex-Bwssb) tomorrow. Thanks to Swati.

The venue is the IISc Cafeteria.

Time is 11am.

Kindly confirm who all are coming.

Water Index parameters

shekhar_mittal - 3-APR-2010

Participants: Vishwanath Sir, Jenny, Rajesh Shah, Neha Dar, Rithesh, Shekhar, Srivatsva, Swati Dandekar
 

We met today at Alliance Francaise to define the scope of the water index and chalk out our next steps.

The scope of the index has been divided into 5 categories. The following is an initial list of parameters we came up with during the meeting. This list will continue to be built incrementally before we finalise a stable index.

1. Pipe Water

    a. Hours of Supply

    b. Coverage - Percentage of households having a bwssb connection.

    c. Unaccounted for Water- Calculated by measuring the amount of water that BWSSB bills to the amount of water that it supplies.

    d. Slum Coverage - Percentage coverage in slums. BWSSB mandates that every household in a slum must be given a water connection.

Bangalore Water Index Kickoff Meeting

Neha_Dar - 30-MAR-2010

A few of us are meeting on Saturday to kick off and plan the water index project. Details as follows:

Date: Saturday, 3rd April

Time: 11:00 am

Venue: Alliance Francaise

Agenda: Scope of index. Best representation. Parameters to be tracked. Information sources. Partners. Next steps.

Interested Praja members are welcome to join.

P.S.: You can read about the water index idea here.

The Bangalore Water Index

Neha_Dar - 26-MAR-2010

What is the Bangalore Water Index?

The Bangalore Water Index project aims to develop a means of quantifying the 'water health' of the city. This published index will track a judiciously selected set of parameters relevant to the water domain, using data released by government bodies like the BWSSB, technical information provided by NGOs and research institutions, information extracted through RTIs, as well as crowdsourced feedback from citizens.

Over a period of time, the index will draw a comparative picture of the quality, quantity, accessibility and reliability of water supply across various demographics and parts of the city, as well the responsiveness and effectiveness of government bodies in charge.


Why do we need a Water Index?