Balepuni GP shows way in percolation, soak pits construction

managing waste water

The constructed soak pit.

Using funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Balepuni Gram Panchayat has taken up an initiative to dig rainwater percolation pits and soak pit construction work.

Waste water management is a huge challenge in today’s world. Owing to lack of planning and infrastructure for waste management, leads to unhygienic conditions, giving rise to diseases and unhealthy situations.

Realising it, District Sanitation ambassador Sheena Shetty, Jana Shikshana Trust motivated the gram panchayat to take up a drive to construct soak pits in the households. The drive has yielded good results and over 50 soak pits have been completed already.

There are plans to construct 100 soak pits under the MGNREGS. Going by the progress, it may cross 100, said Sheena Shetty to DH. The soak pits constructed at household-level under the MGNREGS is helpful in solving waste water management issues, he added. The construction of pits aims at collection of waste water from the kitchen and bathrooms in a hygienic manner, thereby not letting it to flow down the roads and open public places. To facilitate the percolation of water, gravels and sand is also used in the soak pits. The cement ring or laterite stones are used for the construction. After the construction, work on channeling waste water into soak pits is taken up, said Shetty.

In fact, Zilla Panchayat CEO R Selvamani too visited the site of construction of soak pit in Balepuni recently and lauded the efforts. Under the MGNREGS, Rs 7,000 for wages and Rs 7,000 for materials, are given for the construction of soak pits. House, owners possessing job cards under the MGNREGS, can also take up the work on their land and get paid for the work.

To improve the ground water table, the Gram Panchayat has started works on rainwater percolation pits on 10-acres of land belonging to the Gram Panchayat. Already, 157 percolation pits have been dug by the job card holders, including women. The percolation pit is 5 feet long, 2 feet deep and 2 feet width. The job card holders get Rs 250 for digging each percolation pit, said sources.