“Sticking to the water rule-book” and “saving water in all possible ways” seems to be the two watchwords for Sarvam Apartment Owners Welfare Association (SAOWA) of S&S Sarvam, a gated-community with 203 flats, on 200-Feet Radial Road in Pallikaranai.
For, in addition to the mandatory grey-water recycling, the Association has managed to find some excess water to give away.
The treated grey-water is used for the flush-tanks at lavatories (in all the flats) and for the common garden instead of extracting water from the bore-wells or buying water for these purposes
Further, the excess treated grey-water is being given away to the Tamil Nadu Forest Department. The department uses it for its garden-cum-walkway, an ongoing project, at the marshland in Pallikaranani.
“We were getting treated water from the gated-communty from this May to September, before which, we were buying water from private suppliers. During that time, when the water crisis was at its peak in the city, the suppliers were not able to provide water immediately. We had to wait for a few days. Fortunately, some residents of Sarvam gated-community who came to know about the ongoing project at the marshland expressed their interest in extending support to it and they asked us what kind of help the department needed. We told them that water was not readily available and they offered to give the treated grey-water for free. It was a timely help. We were getting around 20,000 litres water per day from the gated community. Since October, there was no need for us to make arrangements for water as there has been intermittent spells of rain,” says a Forest Department official.
SAOWA expresses its interest in give treated grey-water to parks maintained by the Greater Chennai Corporation and other government departments.
“It is mandatory that gated communities send only treated sewage to the sewage management facility of CMWSSB. However, not all gated-communities have taken it seriously. In many apartment complexes, sewage-treatment plants remain idle. SAOWA ensures that first its residents make use of the treated water; next we are willing to give it for public parks and the excess water will be sent to the government-maintained sewage management facility,” says B. Vijayalakshmi, former secretary, SAOWA.
The Association can be reached at 044 - 4952 1397.
