Team Jalam

i’LOCAL started with finding micro level issues and challenges for communities and neighborhoods in Hyderabad around urban infrastructural, and service and aesthetic deficits under the broader theme of water and waste and finding ways to address such problems sensitively and sensibly through community building and participation. The idea was further extended as a competition and the winning team and site was the Hill Top Colony in Malkajgiri in Hyderabad.

The areas in Hill Top Colony are pathetic in conditions where the provision of water, sanitation, garbage collection, and healthcare facilities are inadequate. In such areas, a continuous pipe connection of drinking water is provided which leads from the top of the hill to the bottom and the locals complain of leakage of water every time water is supplied to the households. The selected site had a long stretch of highly slopy terrain with no concretization, pavements or staircase and covered with mud all over the stretch. The Municipal water supply pipes also ran through the same street with various narrow individual pipes for each of the households waving across the slope posing further risk to the walkers. The major problem was the wastewater drainage and surface runoff down the hill whenever it rains. During monsoon the same muddy sloppy street would flow with storm water and sewerage making it almost impossible for people to go outside their houses.
The idea was to channelize the storm water flow, organize the municipal pipes, along with building a staircase. The staircase was designed with these requirements in mind and went further to re-thinking it as a socializing space for the community.

The materials used for the construction process includes Tandur stones for the thread and the bricks for risers. The tanks were pre-casted offsite with concrete and then installed on site.

We have come up with an idea where there is proper storage of water whenever it rains or when the main taps leaks. So, the water flowing down the hill is stored in between the steps where the stack kind of plate is provided which also acts as a gutter when it overflows, that it collects water into the two tanks which further reduces the problem to some extent.
This is done by providing better services and making significant changes and improved technique in point of use water or runoff water treatment from the slopes and storing it to prevent risk in all aspects also for further use in a more accessible and affordable way.
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