Monday, October 27, 2014

Striking Water in Pune



            Settling down in Pune has become the choice of very many, after all it provides a decent place to settle down, good weather, connectivity, unmatched educational facilities and employment avenues. No wonder with so many preferring to settle down here, the realty sector had to do well and the residential property prices keep going up. In their search for newer areas to build houses, the builders and the Corporation, explored the areas outside of the original Pune without any thought to the requirements of infrastructure especially roads and water.

            I live in one such Society in Kondhwa area of Pune. Our Society, miraculously  had good supply of  PMC water till the builder handed over the Society to the Committee and then the water supply began to diminish to such an extent that we became totally dependent on water tankers for our daily requirement. A quick read of the sales deed, who reads that document while purchasing the flat anyway, showed that the PMC had washed its hands off the responsibility of supplying water by saying that the permission was being given with the proviso that the builder/Society would look after the shortfall. Even a meeting with the Municipal Commissioner did not yield any promise of improvement since he said that we should have read the document while buying, giving no credence to the argument that one does expect the PMC/ Govt bodies to provide such amenities after a few years.

            The dependence on tankers led to an increase in the contributions to run the Society which hurt everyone. Although efforts made earlier to sink a bore well had not yielded results, finding such a source became all the more necessary to avoid the huge expenditure on water.

            After some research on the net, it was clear that identifying a spot for a bore well was rather a dicey exercise, relying more on the "expertise" of the person than any scientific method. Fortunately, a person from Daund who had a 90% success rate in identifying such a spot was called. He came with a pair of copper wires, carried out his job with us watching anxiously and in what appeared to be sheer magic, identified two spots telling us clearly the depth at which water would be struck and what bore to use.

            Based on his hunch, we immediately contacted a drilling party recommended by him. Surprisingly, almost all drilling vehicles available even in Pune are registered in Tamilnadu and with the crew also from there or Andhra. One fine day, at the height of summers, they arrived at 6 AM and began to drill at the spot which had been identified. Some of us from the Society were watching this operation with anticipation to see if the money was going down the drain or would actually yield water. After about 2 hours, at about 315 feet, water was struck much to our collective joy. The prediction, dont know what else to call it, was within 10 feet!! After going a little further, the bore well was ready for commissioning. Water was tested, found to be good enough for general use, and the bore well was ready to be utilised.

            The well is working well, yielding a good amount of water and has reduced our dependence on the water tankers to a large extent. Now waiting for the second site identified by the person and hoping that it too will be successful.

            This whole episode told us a few things
  • ·         Read the fine print while buying a house in Pune, while the areas within the city get full supply of water from the PMC, the others are left to fend for themselves especially after the builders sell the flats and hand over the running to the Society.
  • ·         There is no choice but to sink bore wells till the PMC takes the responsibility of supplying water to all parts of the city. Why it does not do so is a mystery. The fact that most of the tanker owners/suppliers are local politicians is probably the reason.
  • ·         Contact a good person to identify the spots, go by his track record and have faith. Like someone from our Society said, lets dig in 10 places if we have to, if even 3/4 spots give us water the expenditure is worth the effort.
  • ·         Use the bore well water judiciously and yes rain water harvesting is a must.