Is Rainwater Harvesting Bangalore deadline extended indefinitely?

Since the government took up the initiative of making Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) a must amenity to every home owner, there have been too many complications and objections. From the starting of this year, the government had set a deadline for citizens to adopt rainwater harvesting in every home which was vaguely followed. Due to the water scarcity in the city and inefficient usage of water, RWH was supposed to be taken up by every citizen. RWH was to be taken up by buildings measuring 40×50 ft.

Followed by a deadline the BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) officers found out the reasons for the delay in adopting the RWH by conducting a door-to-door inspection. There were only 33,338 buildings out of 55,000 who had taken up the RWH technique in their home. The rest of the buildings which come up to 21,662 had not abided the rule. After the meeting was conducted by the BWSSB officers they found out that the rule will take some time to be implied by the citizens. Hence the deadline was extended to few more months.

A BBMP council member had stated that he would write a letter to the BWSSB officers in order to request them to extend the deadline of the RWH adoption by the citizens. Apparently, the BWSSB officers rejected to extend the deadline as they had not received any deadline. Many citizens denied from adopting the RWH technique due to various reasons like inability to afford the RWH structure, transfer of properties, and the denial of the fact that the site measurement was not an appropriate one for adopting RWH.

Consequently, RWH is an important initiative which should be taken in Bangalore in order to enjoy various benefits and overcome complications. If the technique of RWH is adopted in Bangalore, citizens can overcome the problem of water scarcity and this will also control the over flooding of Bangalore roads and other places. Other cities like Mumbai have made it mandatory to adopt the RWH technique in order to get a building clearance with a specified land measurement.

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP Bangalore) or BWSSB Bangalore are not equipped to handle sudden downpours. Bangalore rain throws life out of gear and brings traffic to a virtual standstill. The illegal buildings and encroachments of storm water drains (SWD) are some of challenges for BBMP Bangalore that directly or indirectly results in the overflow of storm water or flooding of rainwater. The rainwater flowing on the road is a larger problem for residents and Bangalore commuters.

According to a source, in coming days, if the property owner in Mumbai is constructing a new building, he must install the rainwater harvesting system to get clearance certificate from the authority. The BWSSB Bangalore had also warned that if the property owner fails to install rainwater harvesting before deadline of December 31 2011, they will disconnect water supply and sewage connections to the property. But the deadline was extended to March 31, 2012 and now again deadline extended indefinitely. Though the deadline for compliance expired a month ago, BWSSB has taken no steps to disconnect water to those buildings.

Awareness about rainwater harvesting methods

BBMP Bangalore, BWSSB Bangalore and NGOs also spread general awareness about rainwater harvesting methods. S. Vishwanath-the founder of the Rainwater Club and A. R. Shiva Kumar, Principal Investigator RWH-Karnataka State Council for Science & Technology are some of the experts whom you can contact for information on rainwater harvesting system in Bangalore. BWSSB Bangalore has also published list of plumbers for rainwater harvesting in their website. There is also “rainwater harvesting theme park in Bangalore” for awareness on rainwater harvesting.

Use of rainwater harvesting

There are innumerable uses of rainwater harvesting in Bangalore which are as follows;

• Storage of rainwater for direct use: Typically roof areas qualify well for such a strategy. The water from this run-off is first rain separated, filtered and then let into the storage. The water can be used for all household purposes such as washing, cleaning, gardening etc. A water testing process prior to the use for drinking and cooking purposes is recommended. Provide a capacity of 0.2 to 0.3 litres per square meter of the roof area in case the roof is maintained clean.
• Groundwater recharge: In the context of Bangalore, the most effective recharge structure has been found to be a recharge well whose depth is a minimum of around 20 feet. These recharge wells recharge the shallow aquifer. Water needs to be distilled adequately before allowing the water into recharge wells.

Rainwater Harvesting is not only important source of water supply but also saves groundwater by minimizing the demand of water. The combination of modern engineering and ancient social principles in RWH System can decrease runoff water and eliminates problems such as overflow of manholes or flooding of road during rain. Rainwater Harvesting in Bangalore can reduce up to 30% of the water requirement.

Components of Rainwater Harvesting system

The main components of RWH are-

• Conduit/ Pipes
• Filtration
• Storage Structures
• Recharge Structures

Types of Rainwater Harvesting

• Rooftop based Rainwater harvesting system: Rooftop rainwater harvesting is quite popular since it is quite easy to collect rainwater falling on rooftops and terrace. It can either be stored in a tank or diverted to artificial recharge system. In rooftop harvesting, the roof becomes the catchments and the rainwater is collected from the roof of the house/building. Rainwater from roof or terrace is transported using PVC gutters. These gutters will be connected to filter using down-pipes. A filter unit is a chamber filled with filtering media to remove debris and dirt from water. Rainwater storage tanks collect all filtered rainwater and keep it for future use. The tank is placed on a small platform about 18 inches high and a tap is attached to it at the bottom. This makes it easy to collect water in a bucket.
• Recharging ground water: Roof based Rainwater Harvesting system can be used for recharging ground water. Instead of collecting and storing them in a storage tank, rainwater collected from the roof tops of both tiled/sloped roof and flat/RCC roofs using gutters or pipe lines shall be diverted to the open well through a filter for recharging ground water through open well. The same method can be adopted for recharging ground water through bore well. Adequate by pass or safety arrangements shall be provided in the system. Expert advice may be obtained before recharging the bore well.

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Rainwater Harvesting Experts in your City Bangalore : Mr Sunil 9845597336 – Hinren Technologies Pvt Ltd

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