UT to crack down on those who ignore rain water harvest order

The UT Estate office under the Estate Rules has been terming it a violation and is imposing a penalty of Rs 500 per square yard from the date,the notice has been served. Not only this,the building plans of new houses which measure one kanal and more are not being sanctioned by the Estate office unless the owner includes rain water harvesting system. Further,even the owners of old houses,who are looking to renovate are not being spared. To conduct renovations,a house owner is required to submit a revised building plan with the Estate Office and only after the revised plan is sanctioned,can one go ahead with the construction or renovation.

To ensure that these house owners adhere to the mandatory guidelines,the EO is not even clearing the revised building plan.

Interestingly,the order issued by the chief administrator’s office on October 16,2008,states: “All buildings that are,or will be,located on a plot measuring one kanal and above shall have rain a harvesting system to recharge groundwater,installed as per the specifications given by the administration. All existing buildings shall install such a system within two years from the date of issuance of this order”.

It must be mentioned that it was the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA),under the Ministry of Water Resources,which had asked the states to adopt the rooftop rain water harvesting techniques to promote artificially recharged ground water.

Even though Centre provides financial and technical support for such projects,the initiative is yet to catch on. So far 18 states have adopted the scheme,while a few others have said they are “in the process.” The Karnataka government had even proposed to offer a 10 per cent rebate on water supply bills for those practising rainwater harvesting.

A senior official of the UT Estate Office said,“The residents were given sufficient time to install the system. It has to be understood that by installing the rain water harvesting system,the residents will be doing good to themselves. Moreover,rules are rules. We are bound to take action against those who do not follow these”.

The proven records of water harvesting as the biggest alternative to meet dwindling resources,particularly in the cities,are yet to find any commendable results in City Beautiful. Experts,speaking at different forums,have predicted that over a period of time water harvesting could solve 40 per cent of the water problem in cities.

The potential of rooftop rainwater harvesting for a plot measuring 250 square metres for an average annual rainfall of 1,000 mm (assuming 50 pc of plot area as roof area) would be 125,000 litres per year.