Hyderabad: Water shortage is an accepted fact of life in many localities in Hyderabad. Rainwater harvesting have could helped improve the situation but it seems there is time before we see any progress on that front.
The government had in 2018 launched a programme to promote the importance of constructing rainwater harvesting pits. These pits, it was hoped, would be the answer to shortages. This programme was named Jalam Jeevam. However, with the rainy season ending, experts, and those closely associated with the subject, say that while progress is being made, it is not enough.
Ms Kalpana Ramesh, architect and activist, working in this field for several years, says there are fundamental problems with the way the pits are being constructed.
“A good pit should allow for rainwater to get percolated into the ground. However, many pits found at such places are only channeling the water and throwing it out. It is not making its way down,” she said.
When Deccan Chronicle spoke to residents of a few multi-storey buildings in Himayatnagar and Musheerabad, some said their complexes did have rainwater pits but they were seldom maintained.
Mr J. Satyanarayana, OSD at the rainwater harvesting cell at the Metro Water Board, said that awareness was increasing among citizens. However, he admitted that their mandate was limited to provide technical assistance to people constructing pits and not monitoring them afterwards.
Ms M. Jayashree of Prakriti Foundation, said there was much distance to cover, “Twenty years ago, no house would have a rainwater pit. Today, because of borewells in the city drying up, many have woken up to the importance of pits. We get a lot of calls asking for assistance but it is not enough. I estimate the number of buildings or houses that have pits to be not more than 10 per cent,” she said.
