Economic development in India has spurred unprecedented urban growth, which has become one of the most significant demographic trends in the country today. With a 20% population expansion between 2001 and 2008, Bangalore exemplifies this trend and its attendant effects on the landscape and natural resources endowment.

One manifestation of Bangalore’s growth is sprawling horizontal expansion and the rising popularity of self-contained residential communities of various sizes and complexities. The public utility is unable to keep pace with the rising demand for water and sanitation infrastructure in these new communities, and it has become increasingly common for residents to assume total management control of their own water and sanitation services through their Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs).

The principal challenge RWAs face is ensuring their water security. Bangalore has very limited surface water options, and therefore groundwater exploitation has become the primary source for homes without piped connection. Groundwater dependence has drawn down the city’s water tables, and many borewells have gone dry. Residential communities across the city find themselves with no choice but to purchase from unregulated and expensive private water trucks to meet their basic needs. In this context, the importance of a resource management paradigm, rather than an augmentation paradigm, cannot be overstated.

Rainbow Drive is one such Bangalore community experiencing water supply insecurity. The layout of about 200 households has used up water from four of its six borewells and is entirely dependent on the remaining two, whose output, it is feared, is diminishing. Faced with the unsavory prospect of becoming dependent on buying from water trucks, Rainbow Drive residents instead have started attempts to directly address the problem through an integrated urban water management approach (IUWM). The approach tries to achieve sustainability by balancing consumer demand with the necessity of replenishing supply. Click here for more details on Arghyam's IUWM approach.