New Delhi, August 20, 2003: The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) today organised a Network Meeting of key individuals and innovators, organisations and government agencies involved in Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) initiatives in Delhi. The Meeting provided a common platform to discuss a wide range of RWH and water management issues, take stock of current experiences from the field, and examine future priorities.

"We believe that to bring the rest of the citizens within our fold (of rainwater harvesters) we have to focus on one vital issue-providing free and easy access to authentic information and technical expertise to all. CSE has organised this event to share experiences, to learn from the other RWH practitioners and to build up a strong database of technical information and resource people. We hope this will help more and more people to adopt this simple, cost-effective technology, which has certainly emerged as one of the key factors in solving the city's intense water crisis," said Sumita Dasgupta, Coordinator, Natural Resource Management Unit of CSE.

In the meeting, CSE released the key findings from its monitoring of the first set of model RWH projects designed by it in the capital, during the past one and a half years. These model project sites include the Jamia Hamdard University in Tughlakabad; the Shri Ram School in Vasant Vihar; Mira Model School, Janakpuri; the Panchsheel Park colony; and Janki Devi Memorial College in Old Rajendra Nagar. It also launched the second set of projects. This includes industries such as Tex Corp Ltd and institutions like the Tihar Jail, as well as residential centres like Garden Estate and hospitals like the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre.

According to CSE, all the project sites have indicated remarkable improvement in both quantity and quality of water. For instance, installation of the RWH system at Jamia Hamdard has resulted in a net rise in water level of 6 metre (19.68 feet), while the Shri Ram School has witnessed a post-RWH rise of 6.8 m (22.3 ft). The quality of groundwater in general has shown a marked improvement: total dissolved solvents (TDS) and total solids (TS) values have registered sharp drops in 72 per cent and 82 per cent of the samples respectively.