Last December, R. Raghavan had to wade through knee-deep water for over a week as there was no means to drain floodwater from his apartment complex at Gopalapuram. The reason: his apartment complex was at a lower level than the road.
The residents led by him resolved the problem with a simple solution. They dug a recharge well near the entrance to the complex. After last year’s deluge, many residents are now turning their attention towards measures to prevent water from entering their houses. Several people are resorting to harnessing the driveway runoff to reduce the impact of water stagnation in their houses.
“We had created a bump near the entrance to prevent water from the road that was raised to a higher level from entering the apartment complex. But, it only aggravated water-logging and we found it tough to drain as there is no proper storm-water drain in our area. We recently dug a recharge well and covered it with perforated lid. It helped water to drain faster during the recent rain spell,” said Mr. Raghavan, a resident of Lloyds Road.
The concept to harness driveway runoff seems to be catching up, with residents resorting to flood mitigation measures ahead of the monsoon. Rain Centre, a city-based voluntary organisation, is also helping several residents dig recharge wells and desilt existing rain water harvesting structures.
The centre’s director, Sekhar Raghavan, said the average groundwater level now stands at 3-4.5 m across the city. “Many people are now looking at rainwater harvesting as a solution to reduce water-logging, particularly where houses are at a lower level than road. We have helped residential complexes and clubs to sink recharge wells at nearly 20 places, including Ashok Nagar, Besant Nagar, Chetpet and Nungambakkam, in the past few months,” he said.
Such recharge wells of a minimum depth of 15 feet will help quicker percolation of rainwater. “Well-maintained structures will be at least 70 per cent effective during monsoon,” he said.
