‘Rainwater harvesting is must in fringe areas’

With water scarcity being a persistent problem in many upcoming areas in Pune, the Groundwater Surveys and Development Agency (GSDA) strongly advocates mass adoption of rainwater harvesting (RWH) system in these areas to deal with the problem.

GSDA said that adopting RWH system will solve the problem of both portable (drinking) and non-portable (non-drinking) water in many areas.

While speaking to DNA, additional director of GSDA, Suresh Khandale, said that Undri, Pischoli, Kalyaninagar, Koregaon Park, Kharadi, Lohegaon, Baner, Pashan and other areas of Pune should take up RWH system on priority basis to meet their water requirements.

He also said that instead of storing rainwater, these areas should adopt the rainwater recuperation method.

“The groundwater table in Pune is 5-10 metres below the ground. While the heart of the city has water nearer the surface, the water table in the above mentioned areas is at some distance from the surface. In areas which lie near the alluvial soil bed of the city, groundwater is easily replenished, while it does not happen in the fringe areas which are on the hard basalt rock,” he said.

With most of these areas depending on groundwater to meet their water requirements, RWH system is the only way to help replenish the groundwater table.

Rather than storing groundwater, Khandale said that a city like Pune should go for the recuperation method.

“In the recuperation method, we allow the rainwater to percolate and replenish the groundwater table,” he said.

He also said that other than being economically viable, this method ensures perennial availability of groundwater.

“Instead of major infrastructural changes in the recuperation method, we just need to channelise the flow of rainwater into the nearest aquifer. With most of the buildings having rainwater pipes, all we need to do is draw trenches to channelise the water,” he said.

According to rough calculation, a medium-sized society would have to foot a modest bill of around Rs50,000 to install the system, he added.

Khandale also said that contrary to the popular myth, RWH system can also generate drinking water, if an inexpensive filtration system is installed in the collection system.