As the water shortage continues to plague the city despite heavy rains, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has now turned to rain water harvesting. The civic body has taken up the construction of rain harvesting plants in 43 municipal locations across the city to meet the water scarcity.

At a cost of nearly Rs 30 crore, the construction of these plants will be carried out in two phases, with the first phase due for completion by mid-July. In rainwater harvesting, the water that falls on rooftops is collected and stored in tanks, borewells etc.

In the first phase, rain water will be collected and stored in tanks. The work for the second phase will begin in October whereby borewells will be dug to conserve rainwater. This will also help increase the water level in conventional wells. Municipal hospitals like Kasturba and Bhagwati already have a rainwater harvesting plant.

The civic body will set an example for the citizens by building infrastructure to conserve rain water in municipal gardens, maidans, municipal hospitals, fire brigade stations, municipal garages, municipal offices, municipal staff quarters, schools, lakes and water reservoirs across the city.

In 2002, the BMC had made it mandatory for the new buildings, having a plot area of 1,000 square metres, to have rainwater harvesting facility. By 2007, the same provision became mandatory for buildings having a plot area of 300 square metres and above.

Suprabha Marathe, assistant engineer of BMC’s rainwater harvesting cell, said, “Till 2008, only 444 co-operative housing societies in Mumbai had constructed the rainwater harvesting facility. We need more buildings to adopt this simple technology. Moreover, the capital expenditure and maintenance cost involved is low.”

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