Plan%sans 1:100000

This project for the slum of Chamundi Nagar, is based on an analysis of theprincipal needs of its inhabitants. My objective is to improve the everydaylife of its inhabitants by proposing another approach than the destructionof their habitat in order to rehouse them in apartment buildings. Buildingsthat do not correspond to their way of life and present many defects likeloosing the direct relation with the outside spaces and the social relationsit represents, as well as being build in such cramped ways that they don’teven offer natural light or sufficient air ventilation for some of them.Of course slums are facing many problems. Man thinks always first aboutthe size and the quality of their housing as being their main default. Butmany examples show that these populations are quite capable of buildingthemselves decent houses when they have the means to do so. Anotherconsideration about these slums is by seeing families of 4 to 5 peoplesharing a single space of 20 m2, that they absolutely need more space tolive. But we forget that the traditional homes in the rural parts wherethese populations come from, are often not bigger even if they have thematerials means and space to make them bigger. More, it is socially normalin India for a same family to live and sleep in the same space.During this semester developing a project for the slum of ChamundiNagar, my analysis of the situation has brought me to ask myself what wasthe main thing the inhabitants thereof were missing. I noted that theprincipal problems to which they were confronted were linked to thewater. Therefore the goal of my project, after having determined whichwere the main needs of the inhabitants of the slum of Chamundi Nagar,consist in proposing to improve their daily life by implementing functionalsolutions.

2011 2014

railway

metro (under construction)

highway ring

introduction

10km

city of Bangalore

ON SITE FOR SITE

water course, lakes and tanks

parks

site: Chamundi Nagar slum

SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THESLUM OF CHAMUNDI NAGAR - BANGALORE

52.50

main radial roads

Prof. Florinel Radu, directeur de thèseHaris Piplas, expert externeProf. Ursula Stuecheli, expert JMA

étudiant: Emmanuel Nijenhuis

2010

The slum of Chamundi Nagar is composed of smallconstructions of one storey high and about 20 m2, built withbricks and covered with asbestos roof. The families, which areliving in, consist on an average of 4 to 5 persons living all in thesame room. Inside these houses there is generally a space tocook and a space to wash. Laundry and dishwashing as well ascooking when there is not enough space inside are doneoutside in front or around the houses.The homes in the slum are mostly officially connected to theelectrical network and many even own a television. It is easy tonoticing it because of all the satellite dishes installed on theroofs.Most of the children are schooled, their education being apriority for theses populations seeing through it the only wayto escape their social condition.The men of the slum are mainly daily workers in theconstruction sites or the factories situated in this part of thetown, and many are also rickshaw drivers. Women are mainlyhired as house made by the middle class living around the slum.As it is often the case for the poorer populations, theireconomical activities are strongly linked to their location.Displacing them outside of town, as many programs for thepoor have done before, would mean loosing their means ofsurvival.

general lifeconditions

Since 2011 the authorities have undertaken the constructionof buildings to relocate the inhabitants of the slum. In order todo this they have moved the inhabitants in temporary shelterson the other side of the site until the buildings would befinished.

But by today, the construction of the new buildings as beenstopped. Indeed the development plan of the city (CDP 2015)was foreseeing the creation of a green area on this plot wherethe slum is located. Thus, the owners of the nearby plots,hoping to see an increase in the value of their plot brought theproblem to the courts, requiring that the slum should bedismantled and the park built. But their chance in winning thecase seems very small because the new national directivesdon’t allow the displacement of slum populations anymore.

Unfortunately the construction of these rehabilitation buildingshas created a new split between the parts of the slum. Todaythis separation is not only social but also physical because apile of dirt cuts the buildings from the rest of the slum.

evolution and actualstatus

rehabilitation buildings

temporary shelters during construction

site of temporary shelters after their demolition

between new buildings and the slum

middle income housing around the slum

housing type in the slum

electrical connection

many are rickshaw drivers

tv in the house

topography

watercourse along the site

land use CDP 2015

residential

public utility

park

commercial

site evolution

mill

ion

liter

s pe

r da

y

500

1000

1500

2000

1991 2001 2007 2011 2025

water demand and supply gap in Bangalore (BWSSD, 2007)

evolution of the built surface and the diminution of waterbodies in Bangalore1992 2001

more than 10% of the worldpopulation have no access to safewater (WHO/UNICEF, 2013)

in slums only 37% of the populationhave no access to safe water(WHO/UNICEF, 2013)

2010

cascading lake system of Bangalore

people defecating in the open in the world

Sudan 17m

Nigeria 33m

Pakistan 48m

Ethiopia 49m

China 50m

Indonesia 58m

India,638m

access to sanitation for slum dwellers ofBangalore

10% sharepublic toilets

8% have toiletsat home

USA France Mumbai slum

600

average water consumption per capita per day

According to a report published in 2013 by the WHO and theUNICEF, 768 million people in the world don’t have a directaccess to a clean water source. In the cities, only 75% of thepopulation has an access to drinking water, and it is suspectedthat the inhabitants of the slums are only 37% to have thischance.The consequences of this lack of drinking water are huge. As amatter of fact, still according to the WHO, more than 20% of theillnesses contracted in developing countries are linked to thepoor quality of the water. The most widespread illness linked tothe water quality in the world is diarrhoea, killing more than 1.8million people in the world each year. It is also the second childmortality cause (WHO, 2013). And it is sufficient to have anaccess to clean water to avoid these illnesses.

the waterproblematic

150

90

40 The water supply is one the main problem that the city ofBangalore has to face. Indeed, Bangalore is one of the raremegalopolis that has not been built by a body of water such as alake, a river or the seaside. Historically, the city depended on asystem of interconnected reservoirs built using the topographyof the hills and valleys, characteristic of the region. But thedevelopment of the city and the arrival of channeled waterbrought the neglect of the reservoirs and the drains feedingthem. Many have been filled to build new neighborhoods andthe remaining reservoirs were polluted because the drains wereused to evacuate wastewater. As a consequence, the number oflakes in Bangalore decreased from 262 in 1961 to 82 today andmost of them are badly polluted.The water provisioning of Bangalore today depends mainly onthe pumping of the river Kavery situated about a 100 km away.But this source is by far not covering the needs in water of thecity, which undergoes numerous cuts and an alternated watersupply depending on the days and the hours.And this situation is going to be even worse in the coming years.Indeed the development of India and the improved economicconditions of its inhabitants leads to an increase in their waterconsummation for domestic needs. As it can be seen in theworld, the wealthier populations consume much more water.Thus an American consumes an average 600l per day, aCanadian 250l and a French 150l. In India the average is 90l perday while it is estimated that slum dweller consumes at most 40lper day.

provision

The access to the water is one of the most important problems,which the inhabitants of Chamundi Nagar have to face. Actually,the entire population of the slum, telling more than a 1000inhabitants, is depending on one public tap located at the foot ofthe rehabilitated buildings. They thus all have to carry this waterto their house or apartment. Furthermore, the public waternetwork in this neighbourhood is only supplied every other dayand this from 6am to 6 pm. The inhabitants are therefore storingthis water in containers and barrels in order to have enough fortheir daily needs. To this we can add the fact that this water isnot drinkable and can only be used for domestic use or boiledto be consumed. The inhabitants of Chamundi Nagar mostly buytheir drinking water or have to go and get it at the bus stop,which is situated at the south end of the slum. There we find asmall filtration station, which is also supplied by the publicnetwork and is thus only working one out of two days.

The access to improved sanitations is also a big problem in theworld and in India. As an estimated 1.1 billion people in theworld have to defecate in the open, 600 million of them live inIndia. In 2010, the UNN (United Nation University) published areport on India demonstrating that more people have a mobilephone than an access to water closets. Indeed India is describedby some people as the most important open toilet of the world.More than 69% of the population in rural India defecate in theopen and 18% of the urban population. The case of the slumpopulation in Bangalore is even worse as only 8% have toilets athome, 10% use shared or public toilets and 82% defecate in theopen. But even more problematic than the smell and the view ofthese excrements, the lack of latrines and treatments of thewastewater is the principal source of water pollution and thus ofthe illnesses that this water contains. (graphs open defecation)The Indian authorities have of course tried many times toimprove the sanitary installations of the slums through differentprograms and developing systems, mainly by installing publictoilet blocks. Sadly in a huge majority of the cases, it has beenobserved that the lack of maintenance of these infrastructureshad completely undermined all the efforts.

Bangalore water provision

water in ChamundiNagaraccess to water

Although the inhabitants have generally organized zones insideor around their homes in which they wash, do the laundry or dothe dishes, the slum only has around 15 water closets for the1000 inhabitants living there. These toilets have been built byseveral families who share the use of them.The others are forced to relieve themselves outdoors aroundthe slum or to go to the paying public toilets at the bus station.

When they have enough space for it, the inhabitants ofChamundi Nagar have a room in their home for their personalhygiene. Doing the dishes, the laundry and even showering whenthere isn’t enough space inside are done outside in front or inbetween the houses where they build a kind of basin on thefloor with concrete edges. The wastewater of the slum is thendirectly dumped in the watercourse along the site. During thedry periods of the year, this watercourse is almost only filledwith the wastewater causing really strong smells.

sanitation

sanitation

public toilets in India

people defecating in the open rural India people defecating in the open urban India

washing area in frot of a house

water points around the slum

toilets within the slum

public toilets and open field used by the slum dwellers

public tap by the new building

water filter by the bus stop

shower place between houses in the slum

jan.

feb.

mar

.ap

r.m

aiju

nju

l.au

g.se

p.oc

t.no

v.de

c.

rain precipitation in Bangalore(mm)

Most of the Chamundi Nagar slum is protected by a retainingwall running along the watercourse. But in different places thiswall is broken. This causes several houses situated in the lowerparts of the site close to the watercourse, to be flooded duringthe important rainfall of the monsoon.In addition, while some of the paths in the slum are equippedwith a drain covered with concrete plates for the evacuation ofthe rainwater, other are only dirt and become almost impossibleto use during monsoon and are completely eroded.

flood risk

58% 82%

18%69%

1 7 16 32 104 78 106 119 244 127 52 19

The improvement of the water infrastructures of the ChamundiNagar slum can significantly change the everyday life of itspopulation. Really well beyond being a comfort, water andsanitary installations are a necessity. Having an access to drinkingwater can help thtem avoid many illnesses increasing the daysthey can go to work and thus increasing their earnings. A directwater supply at home would also allow the women generallyresponsible of transporting the water to gain many hours spentto get it and waiting in the queues. But my intervention tries topreserve the social contacts that are present in the women’swater duty in India.As well, the implication of the community will permit to create anew community dynamic around a common objectivestrengthening the relations between the inhabitants and their willto improve their life conditions.According to a study, there is no developing intervention thathas a more important impact than the improvement of thesanitary system. We can than estimate that for every investeddollar, 9 dollars turn back to the national economy by increasingthe productivity and by reducing the healthcare costs.

the project

means

My project consists thus in creating and improving all theinfrastructures linked to the water in the Chamundi Nagar slum.By maximally using the resources present on site, diminishing inthis way the dependence of the inhabitants to public services,and creating a system that has no impact on the environmentand the rest of the city. My project begins by the creation of arainwater collector to provide all the inhabitants of the slumduring the whole year, than to place reservoirs filled by thepublic services to provide the homes in water for the everydaydomestic use. Then I propose to create as many water closets aspossible in the slum, reducing in this way the number of usersensuring a better maintenance and a better hygiene. Finally, Ipropose the establishment of the evacuation and the treatmentof the wastewater directly on the site, rejecting only clean waterin the watercourse. (shéma système)

aim

The roofs of the rehabilitation buildings represent an idealsurface for the collection of rainwater. Bangalore receiving about970 mm of rainwater per year, we estimate that more than 80%of it can be collected, filtered and stocked. A first filtration willallow to clean the water from the particles present in the air,than a second filtration done with a manually powered pumpwill make this water perfectly drinkable.In order to stock as much water as possible, a reservoir of about600m3 shall be created. The emerging part will be covered witha roof to create shadow. This platform will serve as a communitycenter where we come to get water but also where theinhabitants can meet and assemble.The rainwater collecting represents thus the principal elementcommon to both parts of the site. The reservoir being placedbetween the two parts of the site, are very accurate to create anew place of meeting and sharing, binding the inhabitants in acommon project again.

rainwater harvesting

In order to provide for the water needs of the inhabitants towash, do the laundry or the dishes, I propose to install reservoirson a metallic structure above the trading shops situated alongthe road. These reservoirs are of the same type as the onespresent on the roofs of the buildings and allow to stock water toprovide for the water needs during the days the network is notsupplied by the city. By their position upstream of the site, theyallow also to have some pressure in the houses situated on alower level. The sharing of this reservoir by the different parts ofthe slum represents a common project as well which has to bedeveloped and maintained.

tanks implementation

As I have said previously, certain paths in the slum are only madeof dirt. I propose then to reorganize the paths and takeadvantage of this reorganization to ad to them the differentconnections. In this way the paths will be equipped with thefollowing elements: a drain serving as a rainwater collector topour them in the watercourse, the supply in clean water for thehouses coming from the reservoirs as well as a sewage systemto collect the wastewater for an ulterior treatment. Theinstallation of a sewage system to bring the wastewater to theplace where it can be treated, allows me to create a walking pathalong the now clean watercourse, linking in this way the differentparts of the site and increasing the added value of thiswatercourse.

enhancement of the pathsand connection of thehouses

The Indian authorities experiences in installing communal waterclosets have often been a failure. Indeed the lack of maintenance,the theft of the devices and of the materials has often reducedto nothing all the investments that had been made. As there isnot enough water, I have also considered the possibility to usesdry toilets. But this solution is culturally difficult to be accepted inIndia. In effect, the lowest castes were always given the task ofmanipulating human excrements and were therefore victims ofaggravated discriminations. As of today, when the governmenttries to abolish this caste system, it seems difficult to have thepopulations accept a dry toilet system that has to be emptiedand evacuated regularly.The best solution occurred to me to be to give the inhabitantsthe possibility to install toilets (poor flush toilets) in front orbetween their homes. In this way they can share a toiletbetween 2 or 3 families, dividing the maintenance costs andensuring a better hygiene of these toilets.

toilet creation

10m52.50

10m52.50

elevation on the drinking water tank and community center

elevation on a path of the slum

domestic water tank added toiletsclear water and sewage drains sewage drainage rainwater evacuation

water tank excess waterevacuation in the

watercourse

reed bed watertreatment

sceptic tank fordecantation

houses + toiletsconnected to clearwater and sewage

domestic water tankdrinking water tank hand water pump andsecond filtration

coal and sand firstfiltration

rooftop waterharvesting

drinking water tank hand water pump rooftop waterharvesting

the system

The wastewater is then treated by a reed bed system. The wateris slowly drained through the roots of the reeds being thuspurified. The advantage of this system is that everything happensbelow the ground and does not create bad smells. In themeantime these reeds create a beautiful landscape elementaround which I organized a walking path and benches to enjoythe park. I use the opportunity to create a footbridge above thewatercourse that will facilitate the access for the people living onthe other side. This park will then be accessible to all theinhabitants of the neighborhood and will then be a newcommon element promoting social contact. This park also offersa compromise in the conflict opposing the inhabitants of theslum to the surrounding inhabitants.

the a park around the reedbed and the tank

The wastewater that is collected is brought to a septic tank inorder to be decanted before being treated. Again, the structureof this septic tank is covered with a roof and can be used as aneducational center to sensitize the children to the importance ofthe water and its conservation. It can also be used as acommunity center for all the inhabitants of the surroundings fordiscussions and meeting between the different communities.

wastewater treatment andeducational center

This basin is being inspired by the water reservoirs that are to befound all around India. Indeed in the Indian culture, it is estimatedthat the cosmos and the nature are directly linked to the humanexistence. The influence of this belief can be seen in thearchitecture (Gast, 2007). In this way, the Indians have beenrespectful of their environment during centuries and wereintegrating this notion in their traditional constructions. Typicalprinciples resulted from it like the use of local and long lastingmaterials or the recuperation of rainwater. India with its aridclimate had developed throughout history an incredible masteryof constructions and hydrological systems. But this environmentalconscience has slowly been forgotten, driving to a huge burdenon the natural resources and to the degradation of theenvironment. In this manner, when India is packed withmonumental reservoirs, most of these reservoirs built to stockrainwater are abandoned or filled with waste. (photo basintraditionnel)

At last, in the goal to make this project even more coherent, Ipropose a renaturation of the watercourse that flows along theslum of Chamundi Nagar. The city of Bangalore already started avast operation to save its lakes and rivers. It seems thus logical todo the same for this watercourse before pouring clean water init. By this reshape of the banks of the river, we can also protectthe houses, which are exposed to floods. This operation could bythe way employ the inhabitants of the slum and give them anadditional economical activity. Then, living close to this drain, theywould be more able to watch its state and to maintain it.

the tank

renaturation of the watercourse

Finally, it is important to underline that this project is yet only aproposition and would necessitate an important participatoryestablishment with the inhabitants of the slum before it'spossible implementation.But such a project as the advantage of not only gathering theinhabitants of a slum around a common project, but also toserve the interests of all the city as well. As a result I think thatthis kind of solutions adapted to a precise location can improvethe life quality of the inhabitants of the slums by integrating themin the urban life. Accordingly it could prove to the otherinhabitants of the city that these populations can be an asset forthe urban society.I am of course conscious that such an intervention comes with acost. But a collaboration of the different concerned organizationscould make such a project possible. Actually the water service,the regional and national programs for the rehabilitation of theslums like the BSUB (Basic Service for the Urban Poor) or theJnNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission),have funds to invest in this kind of projects. This is thus aproposition, a pilot project, proposing a way to invest thesepublic funds in the most judicious way.

conclusion: advantages andlimitations

elevation on the sceptic tank and educational center

10m52.50

50m100

reed bed alimentation

25