If they see you wasting water, they may chastise you without a second thought. The residents of Parameshwaran Vihar in Saligramam are too possessive about this limited resource and it shows in the effort they have taken to preserve it. If they could, they would not allow even a drop of water go be wasted within their colony. This colony, which is over 15 years old, was built by the military for retired and serving employees, but many sold off their houses down the years. Today, it has a mixed population. The association, however, functions in a way that reflects positive attitudes associated with the military. Absolute discipline is expected of residents, especially tenants, when it comes to the use of amenities provided to them within the colony. As many of the members are retired defence personnel, this system has found a receptive soil in Parameshwaran Vihar.
“When the colony was planned, provisions were made for the construction of eight small recharge pits to maintain the water table. Those pits were only 2 feet deep and not much rainwater was collecting in them. A huge amount of the rainwater would just go waste. The association then planned to increase the capacity and bigger pits, 10 feet deep and 4 feet in diameter, were dug up around the colony,” says one of the members. Today, the colony has 28 recharge pits, both small and big. Thanks to this initiative, the colony has not experienced a water crisis for the last 10 years. “While our neighbours have been spending on buying water for the last four months, we have been quite self-sufficient for 10 years,” he adds. Every summer, a circular is passed on to the residents asking them to take utmost care not to waste the precious resource. Apart from pits, the colony has also connected its terrace to the borewell through pipes to harvest rainwater. While others may see stagnation as a problem, residents of this colony are happy when rainwater stagnates on their roads. For them it is an indication of where the next pit should be dug up. “Wherever we see stagnant water, we create a pit there. We want to make the best use of every drop of water within our compound,” says another resident.
Though the pits need frequent cleaning, the association doesn’t mind spending on it, for they say it is not as costly as buying water. Twice a year, people from the Metro Water department are called in for the job. The colony also gets Metro Water supply, but many prefer to use water from the borewells, which they say, is less contaminated. “The colony has a water treatment plant and bore water goes through three levels of cleaning before being pumped out to households. Many use this waster to cook,” residents say. Apart from water conservation, the residents also carry out solid waste management.
The colony has thick green cover and even the smallest space is utilised for plating trees. They compost fallen leaves in a deep pit and use it a few months later as manure for the plants. Though they want to compost household waste too, they say there is not enough space to do it.
