Case Study: The Million Wells App
The Million Wells App: A community-led map database to support individuals, organisations and communities, including the Mannu Vaddars (traditional well diggers), in India in their work to improve the population’s access to water.
Service and UI/UX design
Project Partners: Biome Environmental Trust, Atta Systems
Design for Good Team: Adira Andlay, Rocio Calderon Castero, Xin Wen
Alliance members involved: Royal College of Art, McKinsey & Co.
Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
The Challenge
Over the last decade, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, has experienced extreme water management problems and shortages. In July 2015, Biome Environmental Trust (Biome), a non-profit based in Bengaluru working to facilitate livelihood-centered sustainable water and sanitation solutions, started an ongoing initiative, the Million Wells Campaign, for shallow aquifer management and to re-establish the presence of shallow wells in the city and surrounding areas. These groundwater recharging wells can reduce the risk of drought and mitigate the risk of urban flooding. The initiative aims to strike a balance between groundwater extracted and recharged, while also building a water culture in the city where people collectively take responsibility for managing groundwater. However, locating wells can be a challenge.
The Design
Design for Good began collaborating with Biome to support their Million Wells Campaign, which has the explicit objectives of improving Bengaluru’s groundwater table, providing livelihoods to the local community, building a scientific understanding of the shallow aquifer, and raising awareness about groundwater.
As Vishwanath S, Trustee of Biome, says, “A million recharge wells will make Bengaluru self-sufficient in water”.
Through consultation with Biome, we identified the need for a centralised community map database app to track the open wells and recharge wells in Bengaluru. While Biome had an existing database, it was neither easily accessible nor easily updated by the community. Using our skills in service and UI/UX design, we worked with Biome to develop a new, user-friendly digital platform that compiles well data. This database will be a key tool in Biome’s Million Wells Campaign supporting individuals, organisations and communities, including the Mannu Vaddars (traditional well diggers) who have carried out this work for generations.
One critical component of the app is its ability to facilitate a scientific understanding of the shallow aquifer in and around Bangalore. At present, there is almost no official data about the shallow aquifer.
In October 2024, a pro-bono app development partner, Atta Systems, was secured in developing the prototype. The app was user tested with the well diggers and went live in August 2025. App users – including the Mannu Vaddars, who will be great catalysts in bringing data into the app – are now able to access detailed information for more than 500 established wells across Bengaluru and submit details about newly dug wells. It's important to note that the database app is not designed for monetisation. Instead, it serves as a vital tool to support the community, raise awareness about groundwater and the shallow aquifer, and promote the objectives of the Million Wells Campaign – reviving and maintaining at least one million recharge wells across Bengaluru.
“Working with Biome and the Mannu Vaddar community was an incredibly rewarding experience. As designers, it’s inspiring when our work can directly support local communities and address grassroots challenges – in this case, making well information easier to access and helping preserve generational expertise. We’re grateful for the opportunity to connect with Biome and wish them all the best with the Million Wells Campaign.”
– Adira Andlay and Xin Wen, Design for Good team members
"Design for Good has been instrumental in helping Biome take our work into the digital realm. Through our collaboration on the Million Wells App, we are beginning to explore new ways of raising awareness about traditional open wells and recharge wells and collecting data that may one day deepen our understanding of the shallow aquifers. Our hope is that, over time, different communities including the Mannu Vaddars (well-diggers) will benefit from these tools as well – using technology not just for visibility, but for growth and resilience."
– Neelima Ramesh, Core Team Member, Biome
What’s next?
Moving forward, Biome will take the lead in resource management, including the assembly of a development team and the oversight of project management activities, and capturing impact data. In addition, more funding will be required to upkeep the app and overcome challenges within the community, such as users with older phones not able to access all features and limited wifi access.
We will follow up on the impact of the app and how it’s benefitting the community.
Thank you
We thank Atta Systems for their generous pro bono assistance in developing, troubleshooting and testing the app. Learn more about them here.
In addition, we thank our team of creatives – Adira Andlay, Rocio Calderon Castro and Xin Wen – and Biome for collaborating to fill this need in Karnataka.
Support this Project
Learn more about Biome and support the Million Wells Campaign here.
Use this Design
For more information about adapting and scaling this product, reach out to info@designforgood.org.
