CHENNAI: The acute water crisis has turned the attention of the government on rainwater harvesting structures. Aiming to implement the RWH programme initiated by former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in 2001, with renewed vigour, Municipal Administration Minister S. P. Velumani said about two lakh new RWH structures would be established in Chennai soon.
Special teams of officials from Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) and Chennai corporation, have been formed to inspect RWH system in buildings in the city. They would also help establish new structures.
“We have planned to establish two lakh new RWH structures in Chennai. Each of the 200 wards in the metro would have about 1,000 such structures in place,” Mr. Velumani said. The government has targeted to complete the exercise within two months and be prepared for the Northeast Monsoon.
The rainwater harvesting system was made mandatory by Jayalalithaa and it was implemented in right earnest. Her initiative evoked spontaneous acceptance then. Since the last couple of months as Chennai and several parts of Tamil Nadu wilted under acute scarcity of water, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami took up his leader’s programme and announced to implement it with renewed vigour. For the districts, he had also initiated Kudimaramathu scheme to restore the waterbodies with the active participation of farmers and locals. These efforts, it is reasoned, would help improve the storage levels in waterbodies and reservoirs besides recharge the groundwater level.
Earlier, Mr. Velumani, who chaired a meeting on implementing RWH programme, appealed to the members of the public to participate and convert the rainwater harvesting a mass movement. A special booklet on ‘how to save water’ was released on the occasion. Speaking to reporters after emerging from the meeting, the Minister said the government has identified 210 waterbodies in Chennai and the process of restoring them was on. “Villivakkam lake has been restored and it can hold five times water than before. About 38 lakes have been identified near Chennai and the process of restoring them is on,” Mr. Velumani said.
