Change, the Motor Industry, and Water

Motors are used for many purposes today and consume an estimated 40-50% of India’s electricity. Is there a need to become efficient?

They also are used heavily for water, starting in Bangalore in 1894 and now used commonly in borewells across the countryside. Does the industry bear any responsibility for declining groundwater levels?

A short tour through Bangalore’s water history that is closely tied to the motor industry ends with the question: what does the future look like?

The article starts and ends with the question: can our society change?


Shorter version without images published in AIEMMA (All India Electric Motor Manufacturer’s Association), September 2008.

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Improving the PWX Application Process

After experiencing one round of the application review process, I have some suggestions on improving it.

To keep these dialogues concise and to the point I tend to believe that the key solution lays in the project proposal and applications. These may have to be presented by adopted concise and comprehensive standard format, containing specific parameters of a perfect projects definition that match adopted standard selection and prioritization criteria. These parameters and criteria would necessarily derive from adopted underlying general domestic water supply & sanitation development policy principles. The same parameters may form the basis for monitoring verifiable indicators respectively evaluation.

For example: currently stakeholder information is not clearly and explicitly spelled out.

I welcome a discussion on this topic.

Maarten

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Adapting RWH to rainfall intensity changes due to climate change

Climate change is affecting rainfall intensity.
Do rainwater harvesting systems need to adapt as the intensity increases and possibly the gap between rainfalls?

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Household Water Usage Guided by Spiritual Traditions

When we use our water to bathe and clean we put stuff (cleaners, solvents, chemicals) in it. Our used water flows into our drains and into other eco-systems where other life-forms see this flow as their incoming supply. Thus what we put in impacts others. We can minimize these impacts if using ahimsa (non-violence) as a guiding principles.

Ahimsa is core tenet of Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and most religions.


Published in Jain Spirit in 2002, this essay is about understanding the downstream impacts of our water usage at home and how to minimize them using Jainism principles. Applies to most spiritual traditions, especially Hinduism and Buddhism.
Essay appears even more relevant today as places like India use more and more household chemicals and pesticides (even those deemed too toxic and banned in the west).

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Dams and Indian Spiritual Traditions

The Narmada dam has the support of the vast majority of the Jain community in India, but the project violates the major tenets of Jainism.

A look at the dam from the perspective of various Jain principles (applies to Hindu and Buddhist and most religious principles too).


A shorter version was published in 2001 in Jain Spirit and a version with a different introduction published in Sutra in 2008.

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Heavy email traffic in PWX

The June 2008 application review cycle generated a heavy flood of emails. How can we handle it and how we can change it in the future?

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PWX taught at African Women and Water Conference

Blue Planet Run Foundation’s Annette Fay went to Kenya to attend the African Women and Water Conference in June 2008. 15 pairs of women were being trained in water technologies so that they could go back to their communities and start water projects.

As part of the conference, these women were also trained by Annette on using PWX to manage their funds, projects, and learn and share. Here’s Annette’s report.

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PWX has a new water-friendly eco-friendly home in Bangalore


The Peer Water Exchange finds a new home in a community appropriately named Laughing Waters.

PWX now operates out of one the most operationally eco-friendly buildings in Bangalore.

The building runs on solar power (18 photo-voltaic solar panels) and there are two cascaded solar water heaters.

The water system is the most interesting and features:

  • – a 17,000 liter underground rainwater harvesting tank

  • - a biosand filter for drinking water

  • - four recirculation/reuse systems to maximize use and reuse of water

  • - bathrooms featuring 4 input water lines: drinking water, regular water, hot water, and grey water

  • - a grey water system from the washing machine that goes to flush the toilets

  • - grey water systems for irrigation of roof garden.

The first piece of ‘furniture’ purchased was a composting bin!

Then 12 trees were planted, 9 of them fruit trees.

PWX-central is trying to walk the talk and also providing carbon offsets to Blue Planet Run.

Of course you can track down PWX-central on the PWX map! www.peerwater.org/map.

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