Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

The true cost of fine living

With luxury apartments sprouting all over Bangalore, Rakesh Mehar wonders what price the modern amenities come at, on World Environment Day today

The inevitable has happened in Bangalore in the last few years. We've realised that we can't spread horizontally conveniently and quickly enough, and so are heading skywards. Apartments are the order of the day, and the mantra seems to be "Bigger is Better".

Gone are the days when an apartment was just where you lived. Today, it's where you exercise, play, socialise, luxuriate in seemingly unhurried ease and even try to commune with nature in the form of fresh green grass. "After all," says Manisha Kohli, a software engineer living on Bannerghatta Road, "there aren't any good swimming pools near my home. Neither are there any good parks or playgrounds where the kids can play and we can exercise. A gym or a swimming pool in the complex itself is a good way to do that, besides being a place to meet neighbours and catch up."

Added pressure

However, ask environmentalists, what cost does this model of fine living come at? After all, such high-density development clusters add extra load on sanitation, utilities, roads and so on, which are not being factored at present. Take water supply, for instance. Every large apartment complex worth its colonial name now comes with its own pool, multiple toilets with large-capacity flush tanks and luxurious bathtubs. As for the efficient but infra dig bucket and mug, perish the thought. "Huge amounts of water are drawn for all this from the BWSSB supply and from borewells. All this in a zone where the ground water level is dropping a few feet each year," says Prasanna, a former Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at IIM-B.

Then there's the issue of power consumption and resultant air pollution. Dr. Prasanna points out that unlike individual housing, apartments involve amenities such as elevators, corridor and common area lighting and air conditioners that constantly consume power. In many cases, diesel generators handle the extra load. All of these contribute to air pollution in the area, besides making the local environment warmer. Added to this is vehicular pollution as a high concentration of vehicles means congested roads and increased emission.

"Bannerghatta Road is a perfect example of excess vehicle density," says Leo Saldanha of the Environment Support Group. "Roads are an important factor of environmental quality in urban areas. If the infrastructure is not planned taking into account the pressures that high-density housing put on them, then it will collapse."

But, counter many apartment dwellers, all big builders now incorporate a certain amount of greenery within their premises. Radika Rao, an HR professional living near Old Madras Road, says the reason she chose the complex she lives in is because of the amount of greenery she could see. However, counters Saldanha, in most cases this greenery is visual, not ecological greenery. "Usually, builders lay large lawns instead of trees and shrubbery. These lawns consume a lot of water to remain green, and also transpire a lot more than shrubs. They also need heavy fertilisers and pesticide. Grasses are meant for temperate regions, not tropical climates like ours."

Heavy resource consumption also translates to higher loads of waste production. But not many people are willing to take responsibility for the waste they produce. Although apartments are required to maintain certain standards as far as disposal of liquid waste is concerned, environmentalists say there is no guarantee that they are met.

With solid waste, many apartments are more open in flouting proper norms for their disposal. On one street off Old Madras Road, for instance, a humongous pile of everything from packaging material to kitchen waste has been growing at the centre of a ring of luxury apartments.

`Not my problem'

One resident says that although the matter has been brought up before the various residents' associations, no one has done anything about it because it lies on the road and thus is no one's responsibility. "After repeated complaints, one of the builders put up a concrete dustbin there, but that is too small to accommodate the amount of garbage thrown here," she says. Curiously, the pile of garbage lies everywhere around the dustbin but the dustbin itself is the cleanest part of that road.

Dr. Prasanna says that the only way these problems will change is if consumers exercise their rights rather than desperately buy up anything on the market. However, consumers reveal that environmental impact is farthest on their mind. As Radika explains: "While buying the apartment we're worried about how far it is from our workplaces, whether it fits in our budget and so on. And once we've bought the apartment, we're worrying about the daily mundane problems like whether the security guards are doing a proper job, if the lifts all work and so on."

And so, caught in a squeeze between apathy and the constraints of urban life, the environment takes a beating. After all, the end of the world as we know it is far, far away. Or is it?

How to go greener

As environmentalists explain, not all apartment living needs to damage the environment if there is proper planning and execution. At the town planning level for instance, clearances should be issued based on factors other than just the floor area being occupied.

The next step is at the construction stage. Chitra Vishwanath, who runs an eco-friendly architectural firm, explains that builders can use recyclable materials for construction and can make buildings climatically sound to nullify the need for air conditioning and constant artificial lighting. Many of these techniques, she says, are well explained in a book by Malaysian architect Ken Yeang titled Rethinking Skyscraper.

Residents' associations must also work on implementing alternative means of obtaining energy and other resources. Dr. Prasanna points out that in New Delhi, the luxury hotel Maurya Sheraton uses solar energy to heat its pool, power its air-conditioning and for lighting. And in Chennai, no building is sanctioned without plans for rainwater harvesting. Such sources must be exploited to their maximum.

Similarly, associations can help raise the greenery level in the apartments by composting their kitchen waste, replacing chemical fertilisers. On the individual level, the three Rs — reduce, reuse and recycle — should be followed.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail