Mumbai: Never felt the need to call for a water tanker, says Amar Madnani

Unlike most buildings in the Cuffe Parade neighborhood that regularly called for water tankers, Basant building opposite GD Somani School was carefree. The building that came up in 1973 thought of rainwater harvesting fairly early.

"We faced severe water crisis in the past. That's when we thought of harvesting rainwater. Since then we have never faced water scarcity," said Amar Madnani, a member of Basant Co-operative Housing Society.

It was in 2003 when the 16 storeyed building with 64 flats decided to have rainwater harvested. But the residents were hesitant of the mounting repair bills that they were already bearing due to pipeline maintenance work. "We spent nearly Rs 75,000 for plumping and pipeline work. We had to do away with a pipeline that brought water from the other side of the terrace to reduced the estimate cost," said Madnani.

Post the installation of rainwater harvesting plant, the society ensured that it has saved around 12 lakh litres of rain water every monsoon season, depending on the rains. "This is only from the 6,000 sq ft area of the terrace from where we bring down water, filter it and use it for flushing, gardening and washing of cars. We let the first rains clean the system internally. Once our system is cleaned, we allow the water to move to the tank after filtering," said Madnani.

The society had mades a conscious decision of not allowing its terrace to be used for any functions during monsoon season so that most rain water can be harvested. "We have not called for a tanker in many years, but this time we did due to extreme water shortage. Many other buildings in the area call for tankers every time," said Madnani.

The society is now looking for more green measures that can be adopted to ensure that more water can be conserved. If costing permits, the society would look out for tapping water flowing nearby by extending the pipes and installing a bigger tank.