JOIN USZilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sindhu Rupesh said that rain water harvesting (RWH) systems is made mandatory in rural areas also.
“RWH is mandatory in rural areas and in Udupi,” she stressed while addressing a gathering at the workshop organised by the district administration in association with other organisations in MGM College on Saturday.
The CEO said that the money spent on providing drinking water through tankers is expensive. The administration had spent a whopping amount of Rs 4.5 crore on tankers in order to supply drinking water this summer. “Thus, it is mandatory to install rainwater harvesting systems in all houses in the villages,” she stressed.
Quoting experts Sindhu Rupesh said construction of dams to impound water was not ideal for the topography and soil conditions seen in the coast. The percolation of rainwater in order to increase the groundwater table is need of the hour. Rainwater harvesting is not rocket science. Every house should adopt a rainwater harvesting model. The rainwater harvested on the roof-top of a building should be drained into the percolation pit dug in and around the house.
Initially the district administration is ensuring that all the gram panchayat buildings in the district will have rainwater harvesting structures at the earliest, she added.
Water conservation activist Shree Padre said that there is a need for rejuvenating the open wells as monsoon had become erratic in recent years. Rejuvenation of ‘madakas’ (small water bodies) that once dotted the coastal region should be taken up on a priority basis as a community venture.
He emphasised on the importance of water literacy among people. He stressed on the need for people to visit places where effective techniques of rainwater harvesting is adopted. The soil should be enriched with the living organism to make the soil more productive, he added.