Reaping benefits of rainwater harvesting

Chanakyapuri: The residents of Sri Sai Apartments in Chanakyapuri Colony had to wait for two years to reap the benefits of rainwater harvesting (RWH) system. "It was in 2015 that RWH system was installed in the society. At that time the society was spending around Rs 10,000 per month on water tankers, it is then the society decided to install the RWH system. For the first two years there was no much benefit but by 2018 it was evident," said K Srinivas Reddy, secretary.

RWH is one of the most important systems that have to be installed in every large society and areas for city and our future generations to survive. All the water resources available in the country are being contaminated and water purification has been a huge burden on the government. RWH is the only most economical and easy way to replenish the ground water and lakes and ponds. In fact, the government has made it mandatory for all the new apartments and commercial establishments to install RWH system.

Ram Mohan, a rainwater harvesting specialist, who has been instrumental in setting up the system in several colonies, says, "The benefits to accrue depends on several factors such as topography, soil, the presence of rock and the amount of water that is percolating. In some areas we have seen results in the first year itself."

Design aspects

1. Trenches of 0.5 mts. width along the compound wall, to a depth of 2 to 3mts pits of 1 metre dia to a depth of 2 to 3mts.
2. Suggested volume of trench/ pit is – 6 cubic mts. - for 100 sq mts of catchment area

The residents of multi-storied complexes can safely utilise rain water for their domestic requirements by way of filtering it & collecting into sumps and recharging the borewells.

The residents are a happy lot now as the dependency on water tankers has reduced considerably.

Ravi, a resident says, "Every apartment, institution and individual house should take up rainwater harvesting. There are several apartments coming up in the area but do not have a rainwater harvesting system. I wonder how they managed to get permission as it is now mandatory."

Cost: According to the experts, the approximate cost of constructing percolation pits in a house would not be more than 0.5 percent of the total cost of the house.