Eliminating manual scavenging – The Honey-sucker approach

The human Waste in question

The management of human waste in India has traditionally been inadequate to say the least and with an increasing population has become a further burden. We still have the largest population in the world of people without toilets and who have to resort to open defecation. In its particularly ghastly form it has given rise to the practice of manual scavenging, the dehumanizing method in which people have to empty raw sewage whilst immersed in it. Though there is a law which bans it, in the absence of an effective system of monitoring and replacing the dry toilets the practice regrettably continues. In a recent incidence in the town of Robertsonpet in Kolar District, 3 persons died when they went down to clean a septic tank and inhaled the poisonous gas present there.

Most cities and towns in India do not have underground sewage systems to dispose of waste. These urban areas resort to on-plot systems of sanitation generally with a pit latrine or a septic tank. These pits are large diameter and deep pits which may take years to fill up but eventually they do. When they do fill up they have to be emptied. The same goes for the septic tanks too. The sludge deposited in them need to be emptied from time to time.

There is no structured attempt by any institution to ensure that these septic tanks and pit latrines are emptied mechanically. The private sector has responded innovatively with the development of the ‘Honeysucker’. These vacuum trucks of capacity 3000 litres and with a water jetting facility now roam the streets in their distinctive yellow colour.

The 'Honeysucker' - Vacum truck for emptying septic tank and pit toilet sludge

A honeysucker stands in front of a multistoried building, a daily visit.

These trucks are indigenously and ingeniously made. A truck chassis is taken and the cylinder with two sections welded on to the body. Pumps are then place linked to the diesel motor. The pumps are of a very high suction capability and can lift waste from up-to 80 metres. At one call from a mobile phone they are at the doorstep providing a service which eliminates manual scavenging.

If the state is really serious about eliminating manual scavenging it will do all it can to encourage the ‘Honeysucker’ model of waste management. Every town municipality should have at least one such vacuum truck. One Honeysucker can provide for 4000 houses or for a population of 20,000 people. Towns can then choose the number of Honeysuckers required in their municipality.

Rich organic humus for the soil from the humanure

The building bye-laws should specify the design of the septic tank and pit toilets so as not to pollute the groundwater. This should be insisted upon for every completion certificate. The town municipality should also do an inventory of the number of septic tanks and pit toilets in its jurisdiction. Notice should be issued to every household to get one if they do not have it.

The private sector should be encouraged by providing clear guidelines for the waste disposal, composting and selling of compost. A composting site could be arranged which is appropriately designed to avoid smell, pollution of soil and water as well as compost the rich nutrient load . After adequate composting, this could be sold as fertilizers to farmers. There is a huge demand for such fertilizers which sell at Rs 2000 a tractor load.

Bananas grown using composted manure from a honeysucker

It is unlikely that India will get underground sewage systems for all its towns in the near future. While decentralized sewage systems have a role it is most likely that the on plot sanitation system will be the easiest option for most people. With a good design at the toilet and pit level as well as at the collection and composting level, a value chain of sanitation, public health and agriculture can be created. The moment is for us to seize and get rid of manual scavenging once and for all as well as provide sanitation to the millions who lack it.

Who can do what ?

Architects/Engineers/ House owners – Design your septic tank or pit toilet to be easily accessible for the honey-sucker.

If necessary a separate pit toilet may be designed for the toilets alone . The grey water can go to another pit separately.

In high water table areas, seal the bottom of the pit.

Municipalities : Ensure that a design template for septic tanks and pit toilets is provided.

Ensure that the septic tank or pit toilet is inspected before issuing completion certificate.

Ensure that pits and septic tanks are frequently emptied say once every 2 years.

Ensure that land is provided for safe disposal and composting of collected sludge.

Farmers /Fertiliser manufacturers : Ensure that compost pits are suitably lined and does not pollute soil or water.

Ensure that adequate time is given to allow the sludge to compost. Do not use raw sludge.

Use the compost only for specified plants which are not eaten raw.

Pollution Control Board : Draw up a regulation for the honeysuckers, to register and dispose off sludge in authorised compost sites only.

Assist the farmers and the fertiliser manufacturers in the correct composting of faecal sludge.

Regularly inspect the sludge composting yards for compliance.

Agriculture Department : Draw up guidelines for correct use of composted human sludge.

Inspect and assist farmers in correct use of compost including timing, quantity etc.

Draw up approved list of plants and trees where the compost can be used.

There are approximately 200 such Honeysuckers operating in Bangalore city alone servicing upto 100,000 houses. These honey-suckers also service the nearby small towns of Dodballapur, Chikballapur , Magadi, Vijaypura, Devanahalli.

Others are operating in the towns of Bellary and Hospet. The solutions to urban ecological sanitation is emerging from the informal private sector.

On groundwaters – management and regulation in Bangalore

Groundwater Legislation and Management in Bangalore

www.rainwaterclub.org

zenrainman@gmail.com

Axioms:

1. Groundwater is the traditional way Bangaloreans accessed filtered drinking water from lakes and tanks .It is as much a cultural, social and historical construct as a technical construct.
2. The poor depend on groundwater in a disproportionately larger manner than the rich who are connected to the mains supply
3. With a high density of bore-wells the nature of managing and regulating groundwater in urban areas of Bangalore are much different from regulating groundwater for irrigation
4. From an open well groundwater can be extracted at no energy cost. Embodied energy is the lowest for groundwater and the shallower the well the lesser the embodied energy required to use the water,
5. Lakes and tanks are traditional systems of holding surface water and also recharging groundwater. They are the recharge structures whilst wells and bore-wells are extraction structures.
6. At least 5 % of land-use should be devoted to surface storage and recharge in every watershed from the micro to the macro watershed.
7. Keeping surface water bodies from sewage and other pollution is as important as storing water in them.
8. The same goes for groundwater. Pollution can destroy more than recharge can create.
9. Industrial areas and zones need to be heavily patrolled to prevent contamination of groundwater.
10. The science and knowledge of groundwater in the urban context is a nascent science and needs to be invested in more heavily than at present so as to keep the lifeline flowing forever.
11. We need to bring back a culture of groundwater which built the art of well construction, developed a science around it, respected it spiritually and drew only limited replenish-able amounts from the aquifers.
12. The institutions we create to manage groundwater should be facilitating institutions rather than licensing and controlling institutions. Capabilities and skill sets of these institutions should be built accordingly.
13. The rainwater harvesting bye-law which has made it compulsory for every building to harvest rainwater provides an opportunity to replace groundwater use or to recharge and enhance groundwater replenishment.

Spiritual waters - A temple pond with groundwater

The Karnataka Ground Water (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Act, 2011 was passed recently by the Assembly apparently without much or any debate. The Rules are now being notified for its implementation. This is the crucial management aspect of the Act and needs to be carefully thought through and debated before it is gazette and enforced.

The objective of the groundwater bill in so far as the city is concerned would be the equitous and sustainable distribution of groundwater with access to all since groundwater is a common property resource and is to be held as a public trust by the government. In the absence of the government providing water for building construction groundwater is frequently used for the same.

It should also be remembered that the poor and the economically disadvantaged have the maximum dependency on groundwater since they are not connected to the piped network.

There are some advantages that Bangalore starts with as regards groundwater which can easily be leveraged. This is the only city which charges Rs 50 a month as sanitary charges for groundwater through the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board. The BWSSB there fore has a record of the bore-wells in Bangalore wherever it supplies water. This is a wonderful database which can easily be leveraged. Secondly the BWSSB bill collectors visit the premises every month to give a water bill. They can easily verify and monitor the bore-wells as the connections are extended over the city.

The BWSSB responsible for the provision of domestic, commercial and industrial water for the city should be made the responsible institution for managing groundwater in the city and officially recognized as such. A hydro-geological cell should be created within the BWSSB and all collection of monies from bore-wells and groundwater should go to strengthen the knowledge base and the management and regulation of groundwater alone. The BWSSB currently collects nearly Rs 10 crores annually from bore-wells. This money should ultimately be invested in mapping aquifers at micro-level and in the de-silting of lakes and tanks to ensure recharge of the groundwater.

Every bore-well dug in Bangalore must have a recharge structure too, something which is the extension of the rainwater harvesting bye-law being implemented by the BWSSB.

Rainwater harvesting from rooftops - In a school. Used to recharge the ground

It is not also right to treat private tanker operators as villains and use blatantly high tariff mechanism on them alone. They also serve a purpose and most of their water supply is for construction purpose. More than 950 registered water tankers operate in Bangalore. By merely charging them Rs 40 per kilolitre would simply transfer the costs to the consumers.

It is better for the city to think holistically, meter all bore wells, levy a volumetric charge in an increasing block tariff exactly as is being charged for piped water supply by the BWSSB and take steps to ensure recharge of groundwater. At a conservative figure of 250 million litres per day being pumped out and at Rs 10 a kilo-litre Rs 25 lakhs can be collected daily to be invested in tank rehabilitation and recharge.

Tanks- Artificial lakes built by the ancient people which recharged aquifers too

Bangalore can show the way to the nation in the management of its waters and groundwaters and the opportunity is now.

Ultimately the BWSSB should morph into a Bangalore Urban Water Management Utility responsible for all waters in the city including piped water, ground water, recycled water, lake water and rainwater. This is where we should head with the groundwater bill and the rules and regulations

Bringing dead assets back to life in Government Schools

In Karnataka, India substantial investments have been made by the government in primary and middle schools such as for example in rainwater harvesting to provide supplemental water for the schools. Toilets have been built in all schools and mid-day meals are being provided.

A defunct rainwater tank- connected , repaired, painted and functional

Due to many reasons these assets are not functioning. For example in many schools the rainwater harvesting systems are broken and do not collect or store water. Without water many toilets do not function forcing the children to go outdoors. The cooks who are employed to cook the mid-day meals find it difficult to find water to cook, to wash the utensils and for hand washing.

We at Biome Environmental Trust have been trying to mobilise volunteer efforts as well as find funds from organisations to being these assets back to life.

This is done in full discussion with the school , the students and the parents.

Rooftop rainwater harvesting system rehabilitated at a Govt. school Vijaypura

The 20,000 litre underground sump tank built by another government fund and lying un-utilized  is now full and connected to the toilet through a hand pump. This will provide the much needed water for the toilet to be used effectively.

A full sump tank - filled with rainwater

A clean roof , first rain separation and a good pre-filter before the water is stored is ensured. Also a good post storage filter in case the water is used for drinking such as the TATA-SWACH

A TATA-SWACH used for filtering stored rainwater before drinking

The toilets in the schools lying unused get a chance to be used with the availability of water. Especially for girls this becomes very helpful.

Pits dug in the government school for planting fruit trees such as Sitaphal, papaya and banana

Girls toilet

A clean toilet becomes possible with water available through rainwater harvesting

The Education of Water – Spreading water literacy

The Education of water

A heavy load

The burden of mismanagement of our land, water and environment will fall on the future generation in no small measure. In our schools therefore we need to inculcate quickly an engagement and a learning by which the younger generation come to understand the situation with water and what they could do about it themselves as young citizens of the nation.

A sterling example was in a small primary school. The school has one teacher and 30 students from Class 1 to 5. On its notice board students regularly and daily write up on the weather conditions. Rainfall details are recorded as heavy, light and traces. The school has built itself a rainwater tank and uses the water in the mid-day meal programme. The water quality is checked daily by students using a H2S strip test bottle, which indicates the presence or absence of bacteria.

Once a month the teacher along-with the School Development Management Committee (SDMC) gets the water tank cleaned using bleaching powder.

The Rotary Club has donated a water filter and all children take turns in filling it up from the rainwater tank. Drinking water is sourced from the filter only.

A small hand-pump brings water to the mid-day meal scheme area where the cooking happens. Dishes are washed and cooking happens with rainwater only. All children wash their own dishes and glasses as well as their hands before and after every meal and that too with soap.

The toilet built by the government has separate facilities for boys and girls. The teacher forms a committee of students who are responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the facility with the help of a cleaning lady who comes and cleans every-day. They make sure that brush and phenyl is available and that soap is replaced if over and the hand towels are washed and kept clean every-day.

Children are encouraged to understand and participate in every activity. The teacher himself runs a garden in the school after the classes are over. For half an hour, the school children plant vegetables and flowers and take care of the garden with the teacher. Many of the vegetables for the mid-day meal are grown in the school itself.

The teacher ensures that all waste in the school is collected in 2 dustbins. The children segregate the waste and make compost with the bio-degradable waste. This is then used in the school garden.

Children are aware of personal hygiene and a clean dress and also understand the scarcity value of water in their place. They use water sparingly but efficiently.

The school curriculum dealing with the environment is a favourite with all the students. This is a government school and there is much to learn from it for many a private school.

Committed teachers and a good SDMC can make all the difference for our children and their environmental education. A bit of support from the outside community such as the Rotary donating a water filter and another group helping build a rainwater tank only makes the system and the learning better,

In the future generation and their enlightened participation lies the good management of water. Water wisdom is this and no better time to educate when it is raining.

Kandy tales – of water and management

Kandy Tales

zenrainman@gmail.com

Kandy Lake

They say travel broadens the mind. A visit to the small yet beautiful city of Kandy in Sri Lanka has been an eye opener. One has been looking at the water supply and waste-water management in the city. The beautiful river the Mahaweli Ganga flows through the town. Unlike in India the river does not become a sewer after it leaves town. The water is clean and people enjoy a dip in it at many places. Why rivers are clean in our small but beautiful neighbor but not in our places? What is it about a culture that treats its city reasonably well, where there is hardly any open defecation and you do not see people urinating in public? Why is garbage handled very well and not lying strewn about everywhere?

The water supply to the town comes 24/7 i.e. if you open the taps you get water. The water is sweet and can be drunk straight from the tap without any treatment. It speaks well of good catchment management, no pollution, good handling of waste-water and finally good treatment of the water at the source before it is supplied to households. A miracle? Not exactly this has been the way it is since the British designed the water supply system. Why is it that no town in India has the ability to supply 24/7 water to its citizens? A question for our governance system and institutions to answer.

Kandy is a hill town, with many undulations and houses located on many a hill top. A bit like Madikeri. Yet water reaches every house on an hourly basis every day. Investments in infrastructure and in leak prevention have helped.

Kandy too has an increasing block tariff and volumetric metering and the price of the water supplied is good enough to recover the operations and maintenance cost of the system. When will we rationalize our water pricing to make it financially sustainable?

Sewage: The underground sewerage system is limited and many a house has to take care of its own sewage through septic tanks. A well designed septic tank is insisted upon by the local body before building permission is given. Before the completion certificate or the building occupancy certificate is given, the sewage system is inspected by the engineers of the local body to make sure it has been designed properly and implemented as per design. The inspecting authority also makes sure that the septic tank has enough manholes and is accessible by a vacuum truck for evacuation of sludge when needed and when the system is full. One has never heard of this happening in any town in India. Why cannot we make such systems work?

The septage or sludge is removed when full and supplied to the innumerable estates of coconut plantations. These are then composted and used as fertilizer. This represents a complete reuse of nutrients and productive sanitation which is non-polluting, at its best. Which town in India can boast of such a system?

No sewage flows in any of the storm water drains or natural valleys of the town. There is no garbage lying strewn in the valleys and clogging up natural water ways.

Rainwater harvesting: To prevent soil erosion and also t ensure that there is no flooding during the heavy rains at Kandy; rainwater harvesting is insisted upon for all new buildings. They have to make a recharge pit and soak away the rooftop rainwater into the ground thus reducing the burden on the storm water systems. The beautiful rainwater gutters and down-pipes are a joy to watch. Every building has one.

A culture which is clean and functional, institutions that have definite plans and systems , a governance system geared towards the delivery of services to people all result in a quality of life which though basic is clean. Is this too much to aspire for in India? A visit to our neighbours down south is highly recommended. Not just a visit but a learning which will look to transform the way towns and cities in India is run vis-à-vis water. Kandy calls.

The Development Set – Ross Coggins

The Development Set
by Ross Coggins

Excuse me, friends, I must catch my jet
I’m off to join the Development Set;
My bags are packed, and I’ve had all my shots
I have traveller’s checks and pills for the trots!

The Development Set is bright and noble
Our thoughts are deep and our vision global;
Although we move with the better classes
Our thoughts are always with the masses.

In Sheraton Hotels in scattered nations
We damn multi-national corporations;
injustice seems easy to protest
In such seething hotbeds of social rest.

We discuss malnutrition over steaks
And plan hunger talks during coffee breaks.
Whether Asian floods or African drought,
We face each issue with open mouth.

We bring in consultants whose circumlocution
Raises difficulties for every solution –
Thus guaranteeing continued good eating
By showing the need for another meeting.

The language of the Development Set
Stretches the English alphabet;
We use swell words like “epigenetic”
“Micro”, “macro”, and “logarithmetic”

It pleasures us to be esoteric –
It’s so intellectually atmospheric!
And although establishments may be unmoved,
Our vocabularies are much improved.

When the talk gets deep and you’re feeling numb,
You can keep your shame to a minimum:
To show that you, too, are intelligent
Smugly ask, “Is it really development?”

Or say, “That’s fine in practice, but don’t you see:
It doesn’t work out in theory!”
A few may find this incomprehensible,
But most will admire you as deep and sensible.

Development set homes are extremely chic,
Full of carvings, curios, and draped with batik.
Eye-level photographs subtly assure
That your host is at home with the great and the poor.

Enough of these verses – on with the mission!
Our task is as broad as the human condition!
Just pray god the biblical promise is true:
The poor ye shall always have with you.

“Adult Education and Development” September 1976

Sunset times – for undesigned lakes

The aesthetics of water

Sunset - on an unmanaged lake

Civilizations have risen around rivers and water. Water has truly been the birth place of our villages and towns. Look around and you see that large cities have multiple lakes and a river running nearby. Hyderabad has its myriad tanks. Chennai had the Cooum and many small ponds. Coimbatore was a city of the river Siruvani but also the tanks. Even smaller towns like Tumkur, Sira, and Mulbagal have had myriad water bodies which supplied the citizens with water and also recharged the groundwater which could be drawn through wells and Kalyanis.

Sadly urban areas have also been the graveyard of water bodies. Rivers and lakes have been filled up, desecrated with sewage and solid waste and turned into filthy cess-pools. As we struggle to revive water bodies, more with functionality in mind, let us also remember that the younger generations deserve the aesthetics and spirituality of water too.

Foam river - cities destroy rivers

A lake is a glorious place especially at sunrise or sunset. With stunning visuals and the sound of nature it is can become a spiritually uplifting place too. The sky seems to take on the colour of water or is it vice-versa? The water  edge becomes a place of contemplation and sometimes, at dusk, a place of melancholy.

Around the outskirts of the city especially during the monsoon the lakes fill up sometimes partially. They have not been developed in the conventional sense with a chain-link fence and a bund lined with stone. Concrete benches have not been placed and boating as yet not introduced. There are as  no tickets to enter and even to see the lake. People are not immersing idols by the dozen nor are they throwing plastic into the water. There are no lights to make the space look like day and no hawkers to help litter the surrounding with left-over eatables.

Sunset - beautiful times after the rains

Go to these places at sunrise or sunset. Go quietly and occupy a space to see the water. Spend time listening , watching and thinking. Watch as the sky changes colour. Feel the breeze. Enjoy the silence or the distant sound of civilization. When you come back leave the place a bit better than it was by cleaning it a little. There is a guarantee that you will return wiser and  charged.

Do this before urbanization quickly over-whelms this water body too. Think also what we can do perhaps to protect this space from people like us. Can we transform our city-scape to include such small pleasures of living or are we so bankrupt of ideas that this sounds utopian?

A water-wise city will ensure the functionality of its water bodies as places to store flood waters, a bio-diversity hotspot, a recharge area and a recreation area. It will also take some lakes and rivers beyond functionality and into the realm of the soul. Into the country my friend lead me.

The Education of water

The Education of water

S.Vishwanath

www.rainwaterclub.org

The burden of mismanagement of our land, water and environment will fall on the future generation in no small measure. In our schools therefore we need to inculcate quickly an engagement and a learning by which the younger generation come to understand the situation with water and what they could do about it themselves as young citizens of the nation.

A sterling example was in a small primary school in a village called Byrapura. The school has one teacher and 30 students from Class 1 to 5. On its notice board students regularly and daily write up on the weather conditions. Rainfall details are recorded as heavy, light and traces. The school has built itself a rainwater tank and uses the water in the mid-day meal programme. The water quality is checked daily by students using a H2S strip test bottle, which indicates the presence or absence of bacteria.

Once a month the teacher along-with the School Development Management Committee (SDMC) gets the water tank cleaned using bleaching powder.

The Rotary Club has donated a water filter and all children take turns in filling it up from the rainwater tank. Drinking water is sourced from the filter only.

Safe drinking water at School

A small hand-pump brings water to the mid-day meal scheme area where the cooking happens. Dishes are washed and cooking happens with rainwater only. All children wash their own dishes and glasses as well as their hands before and after every meal and that too with soap.

The toilet built by the government has separate facilities for boys and girls. The teacher forms a committee of students who are responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the facility with the help of a cleaning lady who comes and cleans every-day. They make sure that brush and phenyl is available and that soap is replaced if over and the hand towels are washed and kept clean every-day.

Children are encouraged to understand and participate in every activity. The teacher himself runs a garden in the school after the classes are over. For half an hour, the school children plant vegetables and flowers and take care of the garden with the teacher. Many of the vegetables for the mid-day meal are grown in the school itself.

The teacher ensures that all waste in the school is collected in 2 dustbins. The children segregate the waste and make compost with the bio-degradable waste. This is then used in the school garden.

Children are aware of personal hygiene and a clean dress and also understand the scarcity value of water in their place. They use water sparingly but efficiently.

The school curriculum dealing with the environment is a favourite with all the students. This is a government school and there is much to learn from it for many a private school.

Committed teachers and a good SDMC can make all the difference for our children and their environmental education. A bit of support from the outside community such as the Rotary donating a water filter and another group helping build a rainwater tank only makes the system and the learning better,

In the future generation and their enlightened participation lies the good management of water. Water wisdom is this and no better time to educate when it is raining.

Placing a city in a river basin

Placing a city in a river basin

S.Vishwanath

zenrainman@gmail.com

A river basin is a hydrological unit from where any rainwater falling emerges from single point. Many rivers which are now running dry or are carrying loads of sewage are now being sought to be revived. A river basin approach is thought of as the best way to proceed ahead to restore the ecological system of our rivers.

In which river basin is Bangalore located? A common misconception is that we are fully in the Cauvery basin. A rude shock came to the water managers of the city when the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal indicated that only 30 % of Bangalore was in the Cauvery Basin and hence was eligible only for a limited amount of water from the Cauvery. Unfortunately the planners for water, in the absence of river basin thinking, have created a complete water architecture dependant on the Arkavathy and the Cauvery. The Arkavathy is of course a tributary of the Cauvery and in the broader context part of the Cauvery Basin.

What came as a surprise is that a large chunk of Bangalore was actually in the Dakshina Pinakini or South Pennar or Ponnaiyar as the many names by which the river is known by. Apparently the Tribunals point was that this section of Bangalore has to make arrangements for its water from this basin for the section of the populace living here.

As Bangalore expands it is likely to move into the Palar Basin and the North Pennar basin too. Sitting on a ridge leaves it the uncomfortable choice of being upstream in all the river basins it spans. The Nandi Hills being the highest point in the region is the origin of 6 rivers.

Starting from 1894 till date the single point dependence on the Cauvery shows a singularly risky management approach. The city utility will now have to plan for water supply understanding its position in a river basin or basins. It will have to look at its role in the river basin planning. How much of resource will it draw or is allowed to draw from the river?  How much of catchment management will it do to ensure that the river flows freely and at least with adequate water for drawal for the city’s need? How will it ensure the health of the basin by ensuring no pollution of the river either through sewage or even through solid waste dumping in the catchment?

The river basin as a unit of hydrology and hydrogeology will increasingly become the unit of water resource planning. Water supply providers will all have to factor in what happens in the basin and the possible impact it can have on the future sustainable provision of the resource.

Since we as a city live upstream the responsibility on the city is all the more towards the rivers. It cannot be that we only appropriate fresh waters from all resources available, dump sewage and abandon reservoirs are dry to run to farther fresher water bodies. This is unsustainable.

We need River Basin Institutions that will look at the rights to water in the entire basin and also look at the need for the river itself to flow apart from ecosystem needs. We need to move quickly on this one.

Chlorination of water during the monsoon

Disinfecting water

S.Vishwanath

www.rainwaterclub.org

zenrainman@gmail.com

The monsoons are a particularly favorable time for the spread of waterborne disease. As streets flood and groundwater tables rise they tend to contaminate open wells and bore- wells alike. Even piped water supply lines which are empty can pick up contaminated water. There is no tolerance limit for the presence of bacteria in the form of either total coliform or faecal coliform in potable water as far as Indian Standard for drinking water quality is considered.

For over a century chlorine has been used by Engineers as a water disinfectant. A residual chlorine of 2 parts per million is considered the best way of disinfecting water.  Four kinds of chlorine agents are used for water disinfection chlorine gas, sodium hypochlorite, calcium hypochlorite and chlorinated iso-cyanurates.

While Chlorine gas is extremely dangerous and requires specialized handling the typical form of using chlorine in India is through bleaching powder which is Calcium Hypochlorite or sometimes liquid chlorine which is Sodium Hypochlorite.  The available chlorine in bleaching powder varies between 25 to 60 percent and for sodium hypochlorite between 6 to 12 %.

Chlorine kills bacteria by transforming itself into hypo-chlorous acid when dissolved in water. Chlorine works best when the water is slightly acidic i.e. when the pH of the water is between 5 to 7. It is best therefore to test the water from the bore-well or in the sump and ensure that the pH meets this requirement before using bleaching powder or liquid chlorine for disinfection.

While the authorities such as water supply utilities ensure a higher residual chlorine in water during the rains it is for the consumer to manage the disinfection of water if the source is from private water tankers , bore-wells or open wells.

It is good to get sump water and bore-well water checked in a lab for the presence of coliform bacteria. More and more bore-wells report the presence of either total coliforms or faecal coliforms even from depths of 600 feet in Bangalore. If the bore-well water is smelly this too may indicate the presence of bacteria.

For bore-wells shock chlorination is recommended. A high dose of chlorinated water using bleaching powder thoroughly dissolved in 2 to 5 buckets of water is poured into the bore-well. Using a hose pipe more water is poured into the bore-well so that the chlorine is thoroughly mixed into the water. When the bore-well water is pumped out it should smell of chlorine. This should be allowed to act for about 24 hours. Water from the bore-well should not be used during this time. Shock chlorination may be necessary a few times if the contamination continues or even continuous chlorination may become necessary for the deep bore-wells.

The Japanese company Shikoku has come out with a very interesting set of products called Neo-chlor where the available chlorine can be as high as 90 %. The product too has a shelf life of 2 years making it possible to use it for long after purchase. A slow release granular form of powder is best for sumps while for blre-wells it may be possible to use a little amount of the powder form dissolved in water.

Products which are safe and easy to handle, have a long shelf life, which do not cause scaling, which are not harmful in accidental contact and handling and also products which come with detailed instructional manual for use are the necessity of the day in India where water quality is increasingly compromised with bacterial contamination. Customer education is paramount with a good reliable product.

Organo-chlorines are a negative externality which will need to be considered but for the moment the good impact of chlorine may be more apt for the Indian water sector. Using it wisely and carefully is the road to water wisdom.