Bangalorean uses rainwater harvesting to conserve water

The depletion of ground water in Bangalore has created a scare among its residents, and getting waters from the River Cauvery to the city is proving to be a challenging and expensive task.

By K G Vasuki

Bangalore, Sept. 18 : The depletion of ground water in Bangalore has created a scare among its residents, and getting waters from the River Cauvery to the city is proving to be a challenging and expensive task.

The alternative for the Bangaloreans is to harvest rainwater.

S. Vishwanath, an advisor to a charitable foundation that promotes water conservation, has introduced a workable rainwater harvesting technique at his own house.

Vishwanath and his wife have designed a wastewater-recycling process that helps them to provide for purposes like drinking, washing and even gardening. They have also adopted eco-sanitation.

Vishwanath says he saves enough water to last for around 250 to 300 days a year.

"The amount of water we collect, including the system that we have set-up, it's means that our water demand is very less. It's only about 300 litres per day," he said.

The basic idea in harvesting rainwater is to direct all excess water during the monsoons to a specific area for storage or, to recharge ground water in the underground aquifer.

Water thus collected during the rainy season can be drawn through taps and used for domestic purposes as well as for drinking in later months.

Experts suggest various ways of harvesting water like capturing run-off from rooftops and local catchments, seasonal floodwater from local streams and conserving water through watershed management.

Rainwater harvesting can provide lifeline water for human consumption, reduce water bills and the need to build reservoirs which may require the use of valuable land.

Traditionally, rainwater harvesting has been practised in arid and semi-arid areas, and has provided drinking water, domestic water, water for livestock, for small irrigation and a way to replenish ground water levels. This method may have been used extensively during the Indus Valley Civilization period.

Different types of water harvesting structures includes kundis, step wells, nadis in Rajasthan, bunds, mundas, katas and chuas in Orissa, eris in Tamil Nadu and zings in Ladakh.

These traditional systems of rainwater harvesting are more resilient and responsive to crises than "modern" methods based on the intensive exploitation of groundwater.

ANI