Fillip for rainwater harvesting again
The water crisis in the city has made the BMC give a fresh fillip to the rainwater-harvesting system. It has now decided to form a special rainwater-harvesting cell to create public awareness about this water saving method.
“The rainwater-harvesting cell will have trained staff from non-government organisations, who will visit the housing societies, and create public awareness about the advantages of this system,” said additional municipal commissioner Rajiv Jalota.
According to civic officials, even after 10 years of making the method compulsory, about 50 per cent of buildings in the city still do not have this system in place.
The rainwater-harvesting system was made obligatory in new buildings with an area of more than 1,000 sq mt. It was also decided to deny occupation certificates to new buildings without this system. In fact, in 2007, rules were modified to make this compulsory for buildings with 300 sq mt area. However, developers have evaded the system on the pretext of inadequate space.
A civic official said, “If every building has a rainwater-harvesting system, the water from dams will be used only for drinking purpose. This will result in significant conservation of water,” said a senior civic official.
Out of 6,855 new buildings in the city, 3,847 do not have a rainwater-harvesting system. It includes 2,237 from the western suburbs, 1,290 from eastern suburbs and 320 from the island city.
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