Bangalore Floods and YOU!

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“My neighbours are fishing on the street!”
“There is a snake in our basement. Help!”
“My car is flooded and insurance might not cover it!”
“Our office is flooded so we will be working from home.”

While it is amusing to hear such incidents, it is really painful to experience them. Even in the well developed cities and communities designed to modern requirements, it is shocking that we are considering these things as acceptable. Last week, like most cities in South India, Bangalore experienced heavy rains and most of the water ended up flooding streets, homes and communities. Several prominent places like Manyata Tech Park, places in Koramangala, Sarjapur, Jayanagar were waterlogged for days. While the pictures present the gloomy reality of bad design and the anger of the rain god, the residents cut a sorry figure. It is only natural for the citizens to go from despair to anger over loss of property, and in some cases loved ones. We need to understand the problem with a holistic view to find solutions. 

The Problem:

While flooding due to excessive rain is common in the villages, cities too seem to have joined the bandwagon. Why do we face this problem during heavy rains? What happens to our drain networks that are supposed to collect the rain water and relieve the pressure on homes and streets? Prof T V Ramachandra from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, said that 85 per cent of the city’s landscape is concretised. There is little or no space for water to percolate underground. Most of the lakes are full and they are still not interconnected. Despite the government’s tall claims, there are encroachments. The width of the drains in most areas has been reduced from the required 8 ft. The city is now unable to handle even low-intensity rain.

“We were never prepared to handle such a prolonged monsoon. While we boasted that the city can handle 44 mm rainfall in one hour, we cannot even manage rain that falls through the night. This is because the drains are full, lakes are full and water bodies in neighbouring Kolar and Chikkaballapur are also full,” the government official said (NewIndianExpress). When the drains are designed to collect the excess water from the rain, we fail to stop the storm. 

The Questions:

• The question then is how do we ensure the water is absorbed locally and not sent off to the nearest drain? 
• How about collecting, purifying and storing the storm overflow to utilise later?
• Why let all this surplus water go to waste?
• How can we recharge the ground even if there is a concrete jungle?

The Solution:

Urban planners need to look for ways to solve this problem. Here is a thought – 

1. Design storage capabilities Plan to collect all the rainwater – every last drop. By manoeuvring the water to get filtered to storage tanks. 
2. Once the tanks are full, guide the extra water to the deep aquifers that can recharge the ground.
3. Plant more trees, foliage, green cover to help reduce storm/flood like situations
4. Build as per the approved plans and build to last for more drastic situations
5. Invest in recycling, upcycling systems to handle emergencies 

Do you want to know how we are designing a 100% water sustainable community (how storm water is handled) in the heart of Electronic City, Bangalore? Write to us today connect@Estate.One