Citizens harvest rainwater, address their water woes

Residents of Malleswaram and surrounding areas have been successfully harvesting rain water to replenish the borewells in their area. The civic initiative has helped them to find a solution for their water woes.

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board have been actively encouraging residents to take up rain water harvesting (RWH). The RWH system installed  on the streets in localities around Malleswaram, Gayathrinagar, Mariyappanapalya and Mattikere have helped residents tide over water crisis. The system occupies not less than two feet space on either side of the road; yet, when in place, could help residents of the entire lane. According to Santosh, a resident of Gayathrinagar, close to 60,000 litre of water could be harvested with the system when it rains. Water flowing on either sides of the road gets drained into a common pit through purifiers and later runs into the underground water systems and the borewells.

Santosh said that the facility was set up nearly a year ago in Gayathrinagar on a trial basis, but was later installed in the other localities with the help of grants from the local Member of Legislative Assembly, Dr C N Ashwathnarayan and BBMP.

“This facility can be installed in places where the soil is not loose. Earlier, residents in the lane would complain about underground water resources going dry. Come summer and the residents had a tough time filling even their overhead tanks. Ever since the rainwater is being harvested, the borewells in the entire street have been replenished again,” Santhosh added.

The other residents also said that the project, when set up, was demonstrated before the officials of BWSSB, who lauded the move. For households with not much space around to have individual harvesting systems in place, this kind of RWH could be a solution, opine residents. “Take for instance our residence. It was constructed several years ago and there is not enough place to get a rain water harvesting facility installed. We chose to have one installed in front of our house and our borewells now have enough water for our use all through the year,” said Kiran, another resident.