BENGALURU: As rapid urbanisation and concretisation reduce natural rainwater infiltration in Bengaluru, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has completed 1,441 rainwater-harvesting percolation wells across 77 parks and residential premises, with the potential to recharge an estimated 18.459 crore litres of rainwater annually.

The wells were constructed under the ‘One Billion Drops (OBD) – Groundwater Recharge through Percolation Wells’ project, implemented by United Way of Bengaluru in collaboration with the BDA between February 2025 and February 2026.

The project is expected to benefit over 82,300 people. The campaign also included nine awareness programmes conducted across eight schools and one BDA residential community, reaching 593 students and community members through water-conservation and groundwater-recharge activities.

The decentralised wells are intended to capture rainwater and facilitate groundwater recharge, while also reducing surface runoff and contributing to flood mitigation. Sites were selected based on recharge potential, runoff patterns, available open space and maintenance feasibility.

The project involved geological and GIS-based assessments, site identification, construction, quality checks and subsequent handover to the BDA authorities concerned for maintenance.

The BDA also launched GreenBengaluruByBDA.in, a digital platform for monitoring its greening initiatives. The platform will provide information on sapling health and maintenance, volunteering and sapling-planting opportunities, educational tours and citizen queries through its ‘We Heard You’ section. The BDA said the initiative would strengthen the city’s water resilience and advance environmental goals.