And for growing cities like Bengaluru, that can be a challenge. It was exciting to see a comprehensive look at lake health because ultimately any catchment system, whether it is a pond, lake or otherwise, cannot be truly “clean” unless the entire basin is also clean. I saw the hope of turning this space into something that could do more for the city, more for the natural environment than just carry stormwater elsewhere.Īfter doing some digging on water infrastructure projects and exploring a lot of lake restoration movements, I came across the K100 Project (aka the Citizens’ Water Way project) which was set to “rejuvenate a 12-km-long network of stormwater drains that links Majestic, in the heart of Bengaluru, to Bellandur Lake” (well-known for its polluted state). I saw an opportunity to talk about this connectivity of water in a new way. I said, “research.” But in my heart, I knew it was more than that. I remember taking a photo while on a walk with a friend and he questioned… why are you taking a picture of the drain. It has become a smelly backdrop that is just part of the urban landscape. Underground systems of “stormwater management” hide it from plain sight in most cities. When I got to its edge, I looked upon the water, the grasses, and the waste that had been washed from these bustling streets down into the drain. Curious, I started following it to a large concrete drain at the edge of my street. As I looked down, I saw a small stream of water. One Saturday morning when I was walking to the grocery store, I saw a sidewalk being constructed, everything is under construction these days. I became fascinated by the “storefront” that was alive and active in a way you just don’t see in the US. Vendors serving tender green coconut, children playing, elders taking a rest on the doorsteps, and people enjoying a conversation under the massive trees. When I first arrived in Bengaluru, one of the many things that astounded me was the life that lined the streets. If we can use the brilliant technology being created for good, can we save our dying planet? I wonder. Somehow I remain hopeful that we can do something about it. We have enlisted the environment as our employee and our payment has often been devastation. These changes large and small have a ripple effect on the livelihoods of people and every other living being on our planet. We have drastically changed the way global ecosystems function with the “advancement” of our societies. Over the last century, throughout our global landscape, we have altered landscapes through dams, levees, deforestation, water diversion, mining, and so much more. When I first learned about the “Anthropocene”-the current geological epoch describing the imbalance of impact from human to non-human systems-I became interested in the role of design in resetting this imbalance. This work started over a decade ago as I questioned the potential synergies between human development and the natural environment. My questions remain: will Bengaluru “run out of water” as predicted? What are the factors involved in making this system (or systems, rather) more resilient? What latent potential lies within the investments set to be made in the coming years for the city’s infrastructure? This curiosity has led me (digitally) to trace the landscape from the peaks in the Western Ghats all the way down to the mouth of the rivers into the Bay of Bengal and (physically) to muddy edges of “stormwater” drains that snake through the city to water-holding tanks (fondly called “lakes”) wrapped in parkland and threaded walking paths, to conversations with local water activists on the resilience of the water system. I’ve been questioning: What does water resilience look like for a rapidly growing city not near to a large freshwater source like a river? Where does our drinking water come from? Where does it go? How does the city manage it from sky to sea? Over the last month, I’ve been exploring the water systems of Bengaluru.
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