Coimbatore Corporation, according to sources, is drawing up plans to enforce the construction of rainwater harvesting (RWH) structures.
As a first step in this direction, the civic body will ask the 3,200-odd water connection applicants to construct rainwater harvesting structures on their premises before getting one. The applicants will have to furnish proof, including photographs, to establish that they have constructed one. Independent of the proof they furnish, the Corporation’s staff will carry out on-the-spot inspection.
This is the first step because it will be easy to enforce, the sources say and add that the civic body has also drawn up plans for asking owners of houses and commercial establishments to construct rainwater harvesting structures, if they do not have one.
It plans to form teams comprising water supply engineers, certified plumbers and others to carry out a door-to-door inspection of rainwater harvesting structures in all the 100 wards in the city.
But this will be only after the civic body conducts a mass awareness rally in the city. The sources say that the Corporation has planned to conduct such a rally early next week. Soon after the rally, the Corporation will provide time for the city’s residents and owners of commercial establishments to construct the RWH structures.
If they fail to do so, the Corporation will look at ways to ensure that the residents or owners of commercial establishments do not get away without constructing one. For those, who have RWH structures, the Corporation will ensure that they are functional.
On its part the Corporation will revive dysfunctional roadside RWH structures that it established across the city. The civic body engineers will be on the job in the next few days assessing and repairing, if need be, the RWH structures. For, the objective is to keep them ready prior to the monsoon.
