KSRTC to revive rainwater harvesting systems

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) will revive defunct rainwater harvesting systems in its existing depots and also make the system mandatory for all upcoming buildings under it.

According to KSRTC officials, one-third of all the existing depots, office buildings and other structures under the corporation have rainwater harvesting systems in place. But these were installed many years ago and most of them are currently defunct.

Officials say the existing systems will be revived immediately and upcoming structures, including bus stations and depots under the KSRTC’s jurisdiction, will have rainwater harvesting systems in place.

On an average, the KSRTC builds about two dozen new structures annually. The water consumption of a bus depot is quite high as each bus requires many gallons of water for washing.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, the KSRTC Managing Director Rajender Kumar Kataria said, “It is a crucial area of concern for the corporation as water is a precious resource for everyone and we have to find ways to minimise its wastage and recycle it as much as we can. We are going to fit all the new buildings with rainwater harvesting systems and the existing systems will be repaired before the monsoon arrives.”

A budget of Rs 50 crore is set aside for the maintenance of buildings and the same will be utilised for repairing the defunct systems. A separate fund of Rs 200 crore is earmarked every year for the construction of new buildings, which can also be utilised to instal the systems in the upcoming structures, said officials.

The work will be undertaken by the civil construction department of the corporation. It has been mandated to first identify the buildings, bus stations and depots where the water recycling and water harvesting systems can be put in place.

The KSRTC has 84 depots under all its 13 divisions. Water recycling plants have already been installed – to reuse water for washing purposes – at more than 35 depots, while rainwater harvesting is being done in a phased manner, said the officials.

In fact, the same is also likely to be emulated by the other three transport corporations, including North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC), North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). The BMTC has already started identifying buildings which do not have the rainwater harvesting system.