The ministry believes that one of the ways of improving the water table is to capture the rain water and utilise it for recharging of ground aquifers
The ministry of roads and highways, in a serious bid to pursue the government's ambitious plan to improve the groundwater availability across the country, has issued standard operating procedure (SOP) for rainwater harvesting and artificial recharging along national highways. The ministry believes that one of the ways of improving the water table is to capture the rain water and utilise it for recharging of ground aquifers.
It will be the ministry's endeavour to contribute towards improving the groundwater table and making available more storage of water for our needs. SOP has been issued by the director general (road development) in line with its guidelines issued in 2013 for the construction of rain water harvesting along national highways. According to the ministry, there are 1.32 lakh km of national highways across the country and the highway construction has increased to 3,389 km in 2018-19 from 1,501 km in 2014-15. Further, the government under the flagship Bharatmala Pariyojana plans to develop over 24,000 km of existing and greenfield highways in phase I.
As per the ministry's SOP, it will be the job of the consultant to identify the locations of rainwater harvesting and artificial recharging along national highways and include it as a part of the draft and final detailed project report (DPR). The location and design of such structures will be based on the rainfall intensity and geotechnical strata.
Rainwater harvesting and artificial recharging will be provided on all the buildings and structures such as toll plaza, wayside amenities, grade-separated structures which are to be developed as part of the project corridor. The ministry has made it clear that all the executing agencies will ensure before issuance of completion certification that rainwater harvesting and artificial recharging arrangements have been provided by the contractors and concessionaires and they are functional and recorded in completion certificate with location chainage. Further, the ministry wants that periodic cleaning and maintenance of such structures to ensure its proper functionality will be part of the maintenance contract, engineering, procurement and construction contract and hybrid annuity model contract during operation period.
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