Taking initiative
The residents of Greater Kailash I (GK I)
and Som Vihar in Delhi have recently inaugurated rainwater harvesting (RWH) projects.
Delhi’s chief minister, Sheela Dixit was the chief guest. She assured the residents
that "The government has enough funds to finance RWH projects, under the Bhagidari
scheme." |
Greater Kailash IIt all started five years back, when failing to access
‘Canadian expertise’ for RWH, promised by a local MLA, Naveen Agarwal, a
resident decided to take action, himself. After studying the hydro-geological aspects he
prepared a plan, which was rejected by the residents. Unfazed, Agarwal went ahead and
installed it at his own residence. After just one monsoon, the water table of his borewell
went up by four meters, leaving many to reconsider.
Now, the GK resident welfare association (RWA)
has constructed four recharge structures. These will collect rooftop runoff from 80 units
and storm water. The project cost is about one lakh and one-third of it is contributed by
the RWA. The rest of it was given by Coca Cola (corporate-citizenship program) under the
Bhagidari scheme. |
Som ViharEver since it was built, Som Vihar, is completely dependent on groundwater, which
has gone down from eight m (1982) to 45 m (2002). As the state supply was negligible, the
residents installed two tubewells to meet their daily water requirement.
Looking for alternatives, the residents decided
to install RWH and catch 712 mm of rain annually – collecting about one crore litres
of water from the roof and surface. CSE and Central Ground Water Board have designed seven
recharge structures. When on the day of inauguration, for Som Vihar, Dixit promised to
bear the implementation cost of Rs five lakh, Brig Kohli, a resident remarked, "This
much the government should do, as within 15 years, we have paid almost seven and half
crores, as property tax and are still paying Rs 30 per month to DJB for not supplying us
water." |
Experiments with water
Where there is a will there is a way’, goes
a popular saying, which perfectly applies to Vijay Kedia, an Aurangabad-based mechanical
engineer cum builder.
While working on the family farm, his
understanding of water and its various facets improved. Further, the knowledge of the
traditional rainwater harvesting systems of Rajasthan encouraged him to innovatively
modify the existing techniques to suit the local context. Dewas roofwater filter,
Kedia-farm pattern bandhara (an earthen dam, commonly found in Maharashtra) and a rain
gauge are the result of this eight years of exploration. The potentiality of these low
cost structures in eradicating ecological and economic poverty has been widely
acknowledged.
Kedia bandhara costs only Rs 5,000 and can capture 70 – 80 per cent
of the monsoon runoff, while keeping the soil moist for next five to six months. These are
constructed by digging a two feet wide and eight to ten feet deep trench before the
bandhara, and refilling it with soil after vertically lining it with a PVC sheet. The
trench acts as a vertical aquifer. The PVC sheet prevents water percolation beyond the
aquifer. In his farm, following the seventh century model at Ghadasisar in Jaisalmer, the
bhandaras are constructed in a series – thus, preventing the runoff going waste. The
wells are constructed in the bottom of the bhandara – ensuring a sustained
availability of water.
These days he is actively spreading the knowledge around with one message - "Sai
jitna dee jiye, wame kutumb samaye" (rain god is giving us enough water, it has to be
managed intelligently), which Kedia believes can sustainably solve the water scarcity.
For further information:
Vijay Kedia
72, Pannalal Nagar,
Aurangabad 431005 Maharashtra
Tel: 0240-337974/ 339934 |
