'The rainwater harvesting idea is catching on in Bangalore'

With reports of the contamination of ground water, the drive to harvest rainwater gains special urgency. Chairman of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB),
PB Ramamurthy, spoke to DNA.

Do you think more people now want to harvest rainwater?
We are happy that there has been a drastic change in mindset. We’ve used a carrot-and-stick approach. More people now seek to have rainwater harvesting facilities as we have used the threat of losing the BWSSB water connection if these are not installed; even the realisation that water needs to be saved, and that individual households should take the initiative in the matter is now more widespread.

We’ve had reports of the contamination of ground water.
The water table is receding, and there is contamination in ground water. Rainwater is the purest form of water. It can be conserved and used even for drinking after a simple purification process.

So the system for installing a rainwater harvesting system is now working satisfactorily?

We have documented everything house-wise. Those who have got the rainwater harvesting system in their homes can go to the nearest BWSSB sub-division office and register their houses for documentation. This will offer benefits in the water bills. We required at least 55,000 houses in the city to have the rainwater harvesting system in place, but we have records of only 20,000 houses having done it. We are seeing an average of 300 to 400 new applications each month. This is good news.

Do you have a mechanism to answer queries?
We have water adalats, meetings with residents’ welfare associations, and regular campaigns organised by the BWSSB. All these have also been used to urge people to put in place a rainwater harvesting mechanism. There is now even a help desk where people can call to know all about rainwater conservation and harvesting. At all our 126 sub-divisions in the city, there are officials who will help residents to install the rainwater harvesting system. Our endeavours have been yielding good results.

We do not have too many options, when it comes to water.

As the water table goes deeper and deeper, borewell water gets contaminated.We have been in touch with the pollution control board. Meanwhile, I would suggest that for drinking purposes, people use Cauvery water supplied by the BWSSB. It is treated, chlorinated. If you must use borewell water, there are some purification procedures: reverse osmosis, for instance.

Published: Monday, Aug 30, 2010, 9:27 IST
By Aparajita Ray | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA