Posted On Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 03:32:44 PM
Suprabha Marathe, an expert on Rain Water Harvesting with the BMC says, “In rainwater harvesting, the rainwater that falls on rooftops is collected and stored in tanks, trenches, bore-wells, etc. In 2002, the BMC had made it mandatory for the new buildings having a plot area of 1,000 square meters to have rainwater harvesting facility. By 2007, the same provision became mandatory to buildings having a plot area of 3,000 square meters and above and now it is 5,000 square meters.”
The technical expert and civic expert also want that rainwater harvesting should be made compulsory in the suburbs where water shortage problem is getting graver. Vishal Bhanushali, an engineer with Eureka Forbes Institute of environment says, “With the help of rainwater harvesting, underground water can be easily pumped. Also, it not only improves ecology but also solves the problem of water shortage.”
The BMC maintains that both awareness campaigns and stricter rules have proved futile. Marathe adds, “Since 2002, we have adopted a stricter rule in this regards. Any building proposal is cleared only when they have made facilities for this (rainwater harvesting) technique. Otherwise, the occupational certificate is not given to the builder. But the real problem is that many builders have the facility only symbolically. Sometimes builders have the plan on paper but they never implement it. There are three different entities when it comes to any building – builder, architects and residents. Though the onus lies on the builder to implement the facility, unfortunately occupants are of the law never questions the builder.”
However, the builders in the area are planning to have eco-friendly and energy efficient buildings. An eco-friendly building takes advantage of renewable sources like solar energy and photovoltaic techniques; in addition it also keeps the provision of green roofs and rain gardens.
Moreover, many builders believe BMC’s new decision will compel builders to take the green route. Monali Teerth, a civil engineer says, “We have installed an open terrace rainwater-harvesting system. We have also installed storm water drains and percolation tanks on the ground. These facilities will help the residents here to deal with water shortage.”
Another technical expert with the leading residential and retail projects coming up in Powai, Bhandup and Mulund, says they installed the facility in all their buildings even before the civic body came up with the rule. “We have installed bore-wells and underground rainwater tanks in all our buildings. Considering the looming water crisis, this is the only way to properly utilise and save BMC supplied water,” he says.
Setting an example
With an aim to conserve and save water, six-year-ago, Asian Paints made the issue of water management the main agenda of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme and installed rainwater harvesting technique at its manufacturing unit in Bhandup. It was the first corporate in the city to take up Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) at its manufacturing unit. Subsequently, the company helped to implement RWH schemes at various manufacturing facilities, institutions and co-operative societies in the area. It also continued to spread awareness about this concept by organising and addressing various seminars on water management. Marathe said that even the BMC is looking for similar kind of models and is going to take help from the corporate for installing the project at housing societies in Eastern suburbs.