CONTENTS-
Abstract
Introduction
Project AGASTYA - Perception & Findings Vision Statement
Objectives of Project AGASTYA
Members of Project AGASTYA
Some Ongoing Programs of Project AGASTYA
Inferences
References

“ A Sustainable community safeguards itself while not damaging that of others.“ - (IUCN/UNEP/WWF,1991).

Community living with urban development projects without the validation of Environmentally Sound Technologies ( EST s) and Environmental Impact Assessment ( EIA ) are a reality in India, causing irreparable health, resources and ecological losses. As a necessity, over 1300 local authorities have simultaneously embarked on Local Environmental Initiatives ( ICLEI, 1997 ). These success stories have also affirmed the feasibility of sustainable urban development with judicious management of water and waste resources.

The alternative urban future in developing countries by environmentally benign strategies with community participation in making best use of local skills, knowledge, culture and resources is essential for sustainable cities ( Jagannatha.,   1995 ). Absence of adequate participatory tools in urban planning, design and management can cause disastrous economical and ecological impacts. These impacts could be irreversible.

As a departure from the conventional planning and management in developmental projects, community participation as emphasised in Karnataka Jalasamvardhana Yojana for development of lakes and tanks in Karnataka is one such ongoing initiative. In the urban context, lakes and tanks restoration, even though a priority, need comprehensive Environmental Technology Validation and effective community participation.  

A few months back at Bangalore, a team of young, talented and   ambitious professionals met and decided that they need to get together and do something constructive for the city of Bangalore. Thus, a voluntary initiative ” Project Agastya ” was   started under the 25/ Bangalore Foundation and incubated by ICAMT/UNIDO.

Project Agastya , has embarked upon Water Resources Management in Bangalore. This paper describes the vision and agenda of Project Agastya for Water resources management in Bangalore. The initiative has specific impact on the restoration of Lakes at Bangalore.

Studies predict a trend in urban population according to which 1.3 billion more people will live in the Asia Pacific cities by 2025. This is an increase of over 90 % from the 1995 number ( IAS/UNU,1999 ).   Further, it is a fact that a meagre 15 percent efficiency in agricultural water utilisation can meet the entire industrial and urban domestic requirement all over the world.

The unreliability of water supply has a great impact on our society. It affects our daily life; it affects the industry; the quality of goods manufactured; the economics of the industry, as well as our households. It affects the health and morale of all of us in this society.   Some of the trends are:

•  Population and economic growth, and greater appreciation of the value of water in ecosystems, means that water demands are growing and shifting. Tensions over water rights are increasing at the level of the village, city and basin. Some of these disputes are spilling over to international river basins.

•  Shifting patterns of precipitation and runoff associated with climate change compound this gloomy arithmetic. An inability to predict and manage the quantity and quality of water and the impacts of droughts, floods and climatic variability imposes large costs on many economies in the developing world. If the computer simulations on the climate change are correct, these impacts will only heighten in the coming decades.

•  Effective development and management of water resources are essential for sustainable growth and poverty reduction in all developing countries.

•  Usually, the percentage of population with access to potable water is considered a relevant indicator of the progress achieved in supplying water.

•  Every year, on an average, each household spends around Rs. 2,000/- in coping with the unreliable supply of water, which is 15.5 times more than what they pay to the municipality/corporation for their annual water consumption. ( Marie-Helene Zerah, 1995 )

•  Rainwater should not be neglected in the effort to provide water. Because of its unique advantages of technical simplicity and convenience, rainwater catchments can make a major contribution to supplying the water needs of many people.

A situation has been reached where supply - demand matching for Bangalore urban wherein rainwater harvesting, ground water recharge, recycling and re-use of wastewater can minimise stresses on the finite water resources. Restoration of existing lakes in the urban and creation of new ones in the peri-urban areas therefore is a necessity.

“ A Sustainable community safeguards itself while not damaging that of oth ers.“ - (IUCN/UNEP/WWF,1991).

Six overlapping types of action are needed to sustain the above strategies for enabling communities to care for their own environments. They are:

Action # 01 : Provide communities and individuals with secure access to resources and an equitable share in managing them.

Action # 02 : Improve exchange of information, skills, and technologies.

Action # 03 : Enhance participation in conservation and development.

Action # 04 : Develop more effective local governments.

Action # 05 : Care for the local environment in every community.

Action # 06 : Provide financial and technical support to community environmental action.

Project Agastya is an attempt to deploy the above actions for Sustainable Water Resources Management at Bangalore.

Project Agastya is conceived as a Private-Public partnership, with Government support, co-operation and participation established to develop initiate and implement better, more efficient and sustainable solutions for water Resources Management in Bangalore City.
   
Project Agastya shall enhance the quality of life in Bangalore by developing better, more efficient and sustainable water resources management in Bangalore, through efficient participation of stakeholders and NGOs, and deployment of environmentally sound technology."

Project Agastya is a project that is challenging, needs a professional approach and is community centred. Project Agastya , which carried out background work on water resources management for Bangalore discovered a few interesting things -

The most important aspect was that to develop and implement a feasible, viable, more efficient   and sustainable set of solutions for Water Resources Management (WRM), not just in the urban areas, but also in the peri-urban regions, one needs to look at things from a different perspective from the traditional outlook. The single biggest conclusion from the preliminary study was that water is a multidisciplinary subject that transcends many domains and sciences. In water resources management, there are also a lot many departments and agencies that are involved in getting us our daily water. It was also observed that very few of these agencies/departments really co-operated or supported each other to efficiently manage the Water Resources. The actual role of other stakeholders (such as, the consumers, research and educational Institutions, multi-lateral organisations, etc) were either ignored or under-valued.

During our preliminary study about the water Problems and the various initiatives in these disciplines, we discovered a few interesting things:

•  Firstly, we found that WRM is multidisciplinary and transcends many domains and subjects. That means, we would find it difficult to get all the technical expertise and knowledge from a single source. The task of identifying the different sources of knowledge and expertise pertaining to WRM is a great challenge. More challenging would be to get all these people and organisations to work together towards a single goal - better, more efficient and sustainable solutions for water resources management .

•  Identifying the stakeholders would also be difficult, especially the Government agencies and private service providers. Most of these institutions come into the picture only when someone cross their path by mistake and challenge their knowledge and rights.

•  The watershed within the reach of the consumers is grossly under valued. Lakes and rivers are used as a dumping ground for municipal and industrial wastes. It is only very recently that some organisations and   agencies have rose to restore these aquatic bodies. There is also the issue of indiscriminate exploitation of underground water sources.

•  We also discovered that there actually is no organisation working on Water Resources Management (in its totality) in the urban areas, though there are quite lot of them working in the rural areas.

•  The deterioration of the environment (river pollution, decline of sub-soil water, air pollution, etc.) puts equal pressure on rural and urban areas.

•  Insufficient and inadequate infrastructure supply often hinders the economic development of cities in developing countries, despite large investments.

•  Usually, the percentage of population with access to potable water is considered a relevant indicator of the progress achieved in supplying water. The validity of such a binary approach can be questioned, as reality is more complex. It presupposes that there are households with access to water and households without access to water, though the actual problem lies in the cost of access itself.

•  To develop and implement a feasible, viable, more efficient and sustainable system for Water Resources Management , not just in the urban areas, but also in the rural regions, we need to look at things from a different perspective from the traditional outlook.

•    Despite the popular belief, it's not just the responsibility of the water management organisations to 'conserve' water, but of all the other stakeholders too. We need to look at it in its totality, and involve all the stakeholders, the actual users, vendors and even the supporting institutions, such as, financial Institutions, research and academic bodies, bilateral and multilateral agencies, etc.

•  We have to look at the environmental issues too. We have to take into confidence the users, the policy makers, while also re-engineering the instruments influencing this domain.

It is in this perspective that we formulated a plan of action to approach, investigate, plan and execute a set of self-sustainable solutions for better and more efficient water resources management for our City.

As the first step in achieving our goals, we decided to create a Society , consisting of all the stakeholders of water Resources in the city, various supportive Government (both State & Central) departments and agencies, bilateral and multilateral agencies, financial institutions, the industry, the media, other like-minded NGOS, etc.

Project Agastya is conceived as a Private - Public partnership with active support, co-operation and participation of the Central and Karnataka Governments for better, more efficient and Sustainable Water Resources Management in Bangalore. An initiative of the 25/ Bangalore Foundation and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation's International Centre for Advancement of Manufacturing Technology ( UNIDO-ICAMT ), this initiative is the one of its kind in India.

•  To develop, initiate and implement better, more efficient and sustainable solutions for Water Resources Management in Bangalore.

•  To be a Discussion-cum-Working Group consisting of the various stakeholders in Water Management and usage in Bangalore, to address the problems faced by the consumers of Water Resources.

•  To launch a series of Awareness Programmes on the scarcity of water, to promote the significance of a scientific approach to Water Resources Management.

•  To develop new approaches to serve   (involving the disadvantaged groups), increase efficiency, improve technical and operational practices, and access new sources of finance.

Project Agastya includes all the stakeholders in Water Management and usage in Bangalore, as well as representatives of the UNIDO-ICAMT, the 25/ Bangalore Foundation, Government Departments and agencies, Research and Academic institutions, bilateral/multilateral agencies and other like-minded NGOs. Project Agastya has the support and participation of the 25/ Bangalore Foundation and UNIDO-ICAMT in its activities .

a) ROUND TABLE CONFRENCE WITH FEDERATION OF KARNATAKA CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE and INDUSTRY (FKCCI).               – An initiative for the Industry - 26 th September '02 .

The objective of the round table was to initiate a sustainable programme for better and more efficient Water Resources Management in Bangalore City and to increase efficiency, improve technical and
operational practices in the industry, and access new sources of finance for augmenting and strengthening water resources management capability.

The programme was attended by Government agencies, Research and Academic Institutions (IISc., Indo – French Cell for Water Sciences, astra , etc.), Industry representatives, NGOs, bilateral/multilateral agencies distinguished international experts in the area of Water Resources Management and the media who discussed various issues and projects in managing water resources. There was also participation from industry representatives and other stakeholders.

A similar programme is also being organised for the Domestic Consumers in Association with the Resident's Association, KSPCB, BCC and other agencies.

•  This Project involves identifying units that can be developed into model units for eco-adaptability, clean/efficient practices/technologies, efficient utilities and waste management, good housekeeping practices, etc. The technical team of Project Agastya would help in transforming and maintaining the standards of these units. They would act as a showcase for the media, public, the industry and the policy makers to refer, plan and implement eco-friendly programmes and practices.

•  This Project will involve domestic units, industry units, educational and research institutions, the stakeholders of water resources in Bangalore and the policy makers.

•  We have also developed an initiative to bring other like-minded individuals and Organisations together and work as a team.

•  This programme would assist the Industry, Government agencies, Civic bodies, the domestic consumers, investors, etc., acquire cleaner technology/techniques and there by improve their efficiency.

The primary objective of EESS based on UNESCO/UNEP/IEEP guidelines in Project Agastya is

To facilitate deployment of factual information for the application of environmentally sound lifestyle and practices amongst various stakeholders in domestic, industrial and services sector at Bangalore through younger generation with the support of community .

The secondary objectives of this programme are

•  To create awareness among the teaching and student community about the real ecological/environmental situation in our Society, pertaining to water and Water Resources Management, and develop their interest in assessing actual and useful data generated with the help for senior citizens, scientists and experts in the field.

•  Induct study of ecological/environmental situation in our school/college curriculum.

•  To establish ecoGroups and Nature groups in schools and colleges, and to involve them in our activities.

•  To promote awareness on the scarcity value of water , to promote the significance of a Scientific approach to Water Resources Management among the domestic consumers of water and energy.

This programme would be represented by the Educational and Research Institutions, the ministries of Education and the Ecology and Environment in the Government of Karnataka, various stake-holders of the Water Resources, the Civic authorities, the Corporate, the Domestic Consumers (both domestic and commercial) and other like-minded individuals and Organizations.

#01 : ” A Sustainable community safeguards itself while not damaging that of others” (IUCN/UNEP/WWF,1991).

          In Bangalore, Community living needs integration of Environment friendly lifestyles with regard to     efficient water use. Project Agastya has ecoModel unit initiatives at Bangalore.

# 02   :   To ignite younger generation on Water Conservation, an Ecological Literacy campaign   in selected schools and colleges at Bangalore has been taken up under the Project Agastya (the EESS programme). In this campaign students will prepare environmental reports based on UNESCO/UNEP/IEEP guidelines.

# 03   : Sustainable Industrial Development with efficient water-use based on integration of Rain Water Harvesting, Ground Water re-use and recycling, Recharge of Ground Water, Waste Minimisation and more efficient manufacturing practices/technologies, etc. are necessary. A time bound agenda is necessary.   Project Agastya has established networking with various stakeholders.

•  David A.Munro, (1991) Caring for the Earth - A strategy for sustainable living, IUCN/UNEP/WWF, Second World Conservation Strategy Project , pp 57-64.

•  IETC, (1999) International Symposium on Efficient Water Use in Urban Areas- Innovative Ways of Finding Water for cities , 6-10 June 1999, Kobe, Japan.

•  Jagannatha V, (1997) Environmental Technology Needs for Urban Waste Management , Proceedings on the R'99, Recycle, Reuse and Re-Integration , Geneva, Switzerland. .

•  Jorge E.Hardoy, Sany Cairncross and David Satterthwaite, (1990) The Poor Die Young - Housing and Health in Third World Cities, Earth Scan, London.

•  Marie-Helene Zerah, Water – Unreliable Supply in Delhi ,   The French Research Institutions in India, Embassy of France in India, New Delhi.

•  The Governments of India and Karnataka agencies and departments.

        The World Bank Reports.

Project Agastya,
"Sahana" 437, A&B Block
Mysore - 570 023.
Ph:   543135
Fax: 544918 (PP)
E mail: jags_environs57@yahoo.com