Asserting that rainwater harvesting was the panacea for the global water crisis, H. Ramesh, coordinator and rainwater harvesting expert of Karnataka State Institute of Urban Development, Mysuru, has regretted that India was unable to use this system due to the absence of long-term, sustainable projects.
He was speaking at a day-long workshop on ‘Rainwater Harvesting and Recharging in Urban Local Bodes’ organised by the institute here on Saturday.
He said that unabated drilling of borewells was a major cause for for the increase in floride and arsenic concentration in water and added that the government must mandate a borewell recharging system.
“Borewell recharge is simple and cost-effective method of using rainwater to get more and floride-free water from the borewells. The State has over 8,000 villages suffering from floride problem and this could help reduce the problem,” he said.
He said that installing Reverse Osmosis (RO) machines in rural areas could provide potable water but warned that it wasted 70 per cent of water while only 30 per cent was usable.
The failure to restore ancient water storage systems, like ponds and lakes, was a reason for water scarcity, as such system helped to keep the water level in checked.
He said that Israel received only 200 mm rain annually on an average but harvested the rainwater to become self-sustained. India, meanwhile, received a least average of 450 mm of rain.
“Many States that receive over 1,000 mm of rain annually facing drinking water problem as they have not saved the rainwater,” he said.
Mr. Ramesh said that the Mughal gardens of Rashtrapati Bhavan uses rainwater to water the garden.
He said that even huts and people with small houses too can adopt the system and get adequate, pure water for their daily consumption and appeals the officials of various urban local bodies to promote the system in their limits.
