Sekhar Raghavan, director, Rain Centre, Chennai, and expert on rainwater harvesting, said on Friday that the authorities should give priority to rainwater harvesting in Udupi district despite the fact that it received plentiful rain during the monsoon.
He was speaking at a seminar on rainwater harvesting systems organised by the Human Rights Protection Foundation, here.
Mr. Raghavan said that open wells still existed in the district. These should be encouraged and preserved. Public lakes should be preserved. The run-off water from roads could also be harvested by sinking recharge wells close to the roads with storm water drains. The water in the stormwater drains should be intercepted and diverted to the recharge wells.
He said that Udupi might not have as much water problem as Manipal as the latter was located on the hill and the water ran down from it. Among the States, some were concerned about rainwater harvesting, while others simply paid lip service to it.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was more committed to implementing rainwater harvesting systems there. It was high time that a Rain Centre was set up here. It was necessary to create more awareness among people about the importance of rainwater harvesting, he said.
The centre started in Chennai in 2002 was a one-stop information centre helping the general public to know about rainwater harvesting and to implement it in their respective houses, flats, offices etc. Working displays of rooftop harvesting, driveway runoff harvesting near the gate had been set up at this centre.
The centre also conducted awareness programmes on rainwater harvesting for school and college students with video presentations and workshops for builders and plumbers. The entire service was being provided free of cost, he said and explained various rainwater harvesting methods.
Ravindranath Shanbhag, president of HRPF, said that the HRPF would do a survey of lakes in Udupi district. The Herikeri Lake near Basrur used to help farmers grow two to three crops a few decades ago. Now the lake had become defunct and farmers grew only one crop.
There were about 1,700 laterite quarries in the district. Efforts would be made to find out if these could be used for recharging water table. The HRPF will also provide free consultancy to people wanting to implement rainwater harvesting in their houses and buildings. “We will start a Rain Centre here,” he said.
Vasanth Rao and Jagadish Acharya, were present.
‘Water in stormwater drains should be intercepted and diverted to
recharge wells’
