The well diggers of Bengaluru: Tradition and modernity

A smart resilient city needs to manage it’s water well. Policies which foster livelihood creation , provide employment and are ecologically beneficial is the way ahead in the era of climate change. S Vishwanath captures the well diggers of Bangalore in action

Muniraju is a young well digger from the Mannu Vaddar community. He was with a senior well digger called Muniyappas team but has now branched off on his own. Here is his team digging two Wells. They are 5 feet in diameter and 20 feet deep. Both of them will pick rooftop rainwater and send it to the aquifer.

Two laws that facilitate this especially in Bengaluru are the Rainwater harvesting byelaw making it compulsory to harvest rainwater for all new buildings and the second being the Groundwater rules and regulations which makes it mandatory to recharge new borewells. With a bit of skill upgradation the well diggers are able to make sure that a proper clean catchment and filtration mechanism is in place to recharge Wells. Yielding Wells have to be in particular zones with a perched water table. Yet recharge Wells can be almost anywhere. The recharge Wells can also be linked to storm water drains too.

A smart resilient city needs to manage it’s water well. Policies which foster livelihood creation , provide employment and are ecologically beneficial is the way ahead in the era of climate change. Muniraju and team are the water warriors of Bengaluru.