In this dry weather when most of the city is bone dry, ‘Sourabha’ in Vijayanagar is all green, thanks to rainwater harvesting.
“Our house is entirely dependent on rainwater for all its needs since 1994 and we do not have a piped water connection,” says A.R. Shivakumar, the house owner and principal investigator for rainwater harvesting at the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Science.
Located on a plot of 40 ft x 60 ft ‘Sourabha’ still has rainwater collected in the sump. “We are using the stored rainwater for drinking and cooking, and for all other purposes we are using the rainwater recharged in the ground,” said Mr. Shivakumar. Even the construction of the house was done with rainwater.
Rainwater falling inside the plot is being channelled through roof-top rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharging and percolation in garden area. Not a drop of rainwater falling on the plot is allowed to flow out. The need of toilet flushing is met by recirculation of used water from the washing machine.
Clean and safe water is available 24 hours, 365 days a year, and the quality of water is also periodically tested and found to be good. This family of four members needs around 15,000 litres of water a month.
