Most buildings in the city were reeling under the 30% water cut imposed by the BMC on Monday and Tuesday, but residents of Sealine in Khar (West) were unaffected.
Most buildings in the city were reeling under the 30% water cut imposed by the BMC on Monday and Tuesday, but residents of Sealine in Khar (West) were unaffected. The building has put in place a unique water management system that helps it conserve water and tide over water crisis like the one’s being faced by the city now.
The water harvesting plant is the brainchild of Navin Chandra, 79. “If we do not conserve water now we will be in serious trouble later,” he said. “The BMC talks of the Sujal Mumbai scheme (which aims at 24-hour water supply in the city). But by the time the project is completed (2025 is the revised deadline), the demand for water will double.”
Water harvesting helps Sealine building save up to 40% of water everyday. The conserved water goes to all bathrooms and is used for non-drinking purposes like gardening, flushing toilets and washing cars. The building felt the need to harvest rainwater in 2005 when it faced water shortage.
“We used to have two tankers supplying water to us a week, besides the water from the BMC,” Chandra, the secretary of the housing society, said. “This was costly. Also, the water from the tankers was quite dirty. We were forced to come up with a solution.”
Rainwater harvesting does not mean just collecting water and storing it, he said. “It has to be allowed to seep into the ground and replenish the water table.” Rainwater falling on the terrace of the nine-storeyed building and stagnating in its compound is collected in an underground tank. From the tank, the water passes through channels made of earth, sand and gravel, and seeps into the ground and recharges the three bore wells in the housing complex. The water from bore wells is then carried to the overhead tank for use by the building’s residents. Some high-profile citizens, like industries minister
Narayan Rane and film director Tanuja Chandra, reside in Sealine.
Asked if housing societies with predominantly middle-class members will be able to afford the water harvesting plant, which costs around Rs6 lakh to be set up, Navin Chandra said: “We see it is an investment for the future. Water will be the next cause for wars. Citizens will have to do something for themselves to overcome water crisis. Neither the BMC nor the government can do much about it. Every housing society should foresee this problem and take measures to pre-empt it.”
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