Monsoons dodgy,rainwater harvesting gains ground in city

Despite the leak detection drive undertaken by the BMC over the last year,there has been a marginal increase in the number of leakages from 25,029 to 25,626.

As per a state government order in 2002,building on plots measuring 1,000 square metres or more had to implement rainwater harvesting. Till 2007,only 185 buildings had done so. In June 2007,a government notification tightened the limit to 300 square metres,and the total climbed to 444 by May 2008 and then to 900 till 2010.

However,despite the increase in number of buildings with rainwater harvesting,this is still just a fraction of the total number of buildings. Sources said many builders show rainwater harvesting plants in their plans,but never build them. Incidentally,the BMC has no section to monitor if the units are being put in place.

A senior official of the BMC’s development plan department said despite the recent move against issuing occupation certificates to buildings without rainwater harvesting,builders and owners still flout the rule. “Even after showing the plant on paper and actually installing it,in many cases they do not ensure that the plant works. We don’t have any real monitoring system to ensure the plant is functional,” said the official.