Urban water primers introduce important topics in water that citizens and communities should get familiar with in order to understand how our city receives, manages and treats its water.

Wastewater

We complain about the muck that our cities are mired in, often forgetting that it is us who generate it – untreated sewage from households is the biggest source of water pollution in India. In »

Aquifers

The word “groundwater” might conjure the image of a wide, subterranean sea or lake beneath our feet but this important water source is actually extracted from underground layers of water-bearing soil or rock. All sources »

Wastewater Treatment and Reuse

In most Indian cities wastewater is a common feature – we see it overflowing our drains and lying stagnant in puddles. Despite the problems it causes, wastewater has hidden potential. It in fact holds a »

Borewells

The borewell is now perhaps the most common source of water in urban India. These are wells dug deep into the ground to tap into water-bearing soil or rock layers termed aquifers. Borewells typically draw »

Lakes

Lakes are large water bodies surrounded by land. They are found in all kinds of environments including plains, mountains and deserts and can also vary greatly in size and depth. The world’s deepest lake, Lake »

Open Wells

An open well is simply a hole in the ground that allows access to water underground. Open wells are used to extract water found at the shallowest level in that area, which are typically found »

Drinking Water Standards

When we think about preventing water contamination, the first thing that comes to mind is boiling water to destroy microbes. Avoiding microbial contamination is the reason we avoid water from roadside eateries as well. But »

Rainfall

Our planet’s water circulates continuously from the atmosphere to land and oceans, and back again in a process known as the hydrological cycle. The hydrological cycle includes rainfall, percolation of water into the ground, and »

Water Demand

Understanding water demand Have you ever wondered how much water you use? Would you be able to estimate how much water do you actually need? In Indian cities, only a small percentage of the population »

Urban Waters, Bengaluru