Bengaluru Man Hasn't Paid Water Bill In 27 Years: Here's How You Can Do It Too

Do you pay water bill every month? We do too! But not this Bengaluru man, who hasn't paid even a single penny towards his water bill in the last 27 years. But, why? Here's why.

Senior scientist AR Shivakumar doesn't have a water connection. Since 1995, he along with his family has been using treated rainwater not just for bathing and washing, but also for drinking. He has been relying entirely on Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) to serve all his family¡¯s needs for over two decades.

Shivakumar has also invented tools that simplify RWH at home and has even worked with local authorities to popularise rainwater harvesting in Bengaluru!

shivakumar scientist

Findings of his research

27 years ago, when Shivakumar started building his house, he did a lot of research to look for alternatives that would fulfill his family¡¯s needs without harming the environment. His first step was to analyse the water bills of residents of the locality to map the water consumption of an average family.

He found that his findings matched the water consumption norms published by WHO ¨C a family of four uses approximately 500 litres of water per day. Next, he sat and tabulated the rainfall data in the city over the last 100 years. He was surprised to discover that as per the data, there is more than enough rainfall in the city, even in the worst monsoon-deficient years.

shivakumar scientist

The only catch was that while it rained for about 60-70 days in a year, the water had to last for 365 days. So I built a series of RWH tanks that could store almost 45,000 litres of water to tide over these 100-odd days. Also, to ensure that a motor was not needed, I stored the water on the rooftop to avoid it being sent down and pumped up again,¡± explains Shivakumar.

Bengaluru has enough rainfall but not water

Every year during summer, India appears to be on the verge of a water crisis once again despite witnessing bountiful rains the previous year. The fast-growing metropolis of Bengaluru, India¡¯s IT capital, too is no exception to these water woes. Its elevation (the city is around 3,000 feet above sea level) and hard granite-gneiss terrain have also meant that sourcing water for household use has always been a challenge.

Cauvery, the closest perennial river, flows over 100 km away and at an altitude that is nearly 1,000 feet lower than Bengaluru¡¯s, making it extremely expensive to pump water to the city¡¯s residential areas. Also, with the city¡¯s population swelling over the years, ground water levels have decreased sharply.

shivakumar scientist

But, Shivakumar believes in the idea that planned RWH can effectively sustain the city¡¯s water supply.

The use of water, though, is careful, he said. Recycling plays a big part -- like collecting water from the kitchen sink in a can outside the kitchen to using water from the washing machine to flush toilets. The water harvesting system is simple - water from the sloping roof is collected n underground tanks, where the purification process happens.

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