The Delhi government will adopt the cost-effective model of rainwater harvesting (RWH) currently being implemented in the tribal-dominated Dungarpur district of Rajasthan, city Water Minister Satyendar Jain has said.
A seven-member delegation, led by Mr. Jain, was on an official visit to Dungarpur to witness the rainwater-harvesting system that costs just ₹16,000 as compared to the conventional one, which costs between ₹50,000 and ₹1 lakh per household.
Mr. Jain said the Dungarpur model was an innovative idea that was centred on routing the rainwater to a bore well, instead of a regular rainwater-harvesting pit.
“It is a closed-loop system. The rainwater collected on the rooftop is being routed to the casing of already existing bore wells in households. They have created sand filters in the conduit pipe itself and included a way of backwash too,” he told PTI .
Mr. Jain said he wanted to witness the system himself as he was sceptical of the model when K.K. Gupta, the chairman of the Dungar Municipal Council, first told him about it.
“I am satisfied now. It is an excellent system. We are going to implement it in Delhi, others should follow it too,” the Minister said.
“Normally, the construction of a rainwater harvesting system costs between ₹50,000 and ₹1 lakh, but the one being implemented in Dungarpur costs just ₹16,000,” he added.
Mr. Gupta claimed that there will be no shortage of water in Delhi if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government implements the Dungarpur model of water harvesting in the national capital.
“The Minister could not believe it when I first told him that we have developed a water harvesting system that costs only ₹16,000. In Delhi, the administration spent lakhs on creating large rainwater-harvesting pits. Delhi reels under shortage of water. The issue will be resolved 100% if the city implements this model,” he said.
Mr. Gupta said the Dungarpur administration gives a 50% subsidy per household for installing a rainwater harvesting system. “Effectively, it costs ₹8,000 per household. We have covered around 400 households and government buildings in the last three years,” he said.
“A government official in Dungarpur said the construction of large water-harvesting pits is not an economically sustainable idea. Our concept focusses on making the rainwater harvesting system affordable so that more and more people can use it. Not everyone has the means to pay for an expensive rainwater harvesting system, so most people avoid creating one. The one we have developed cuts the cost drastically and does its job effectively,” he said.
The official said the system can collect and route 3,000 litres of water per hour if the rainfall is light to moderate. “The conventional system has more storage capacity and the speed of groundwater recharge is slightly better, but most people do not take it up as it is expensive.
“If we wanted to create a conventional rainwater harvesting system in Dungarpur, hardly 10 people would have agreed to it,” he said.
