Citizens’ initiative helps in water conservation at Baner-Pashan hill

It has taken 15 years for volunteers of Vasundhara Swachata Abhiyan to turn Baner-Pashan hill from barren to lush green, with an increase in groundwater levels and also control the flooding in the area

It has taken 15 years for volunteers of Vasundhara Swachata Abhiyan to turn Baner-Pashan hill from barren to lush green, with an increase in groundwater levels and also control the flooding in the area.

Volunteers of Vasundhara Swachata Abhiyan have worked for 15 years to turn Baner-Pashan hill from a barren land to a lush green area, (HT PHOTO)

Baner-Pashan hill was declared as a biodiversity place by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in 2005, post which Vasundhara Swachata Abhiyan (VSA) started a plantation and growth drive since 2006 on this hill.

“It was all voluntary and many citizens living in Baner and Pashan joined us to plant indigenous and local trees with the prime motive of making the hill green. Initially, the sapling survival rate was 50%, but after a few lessons from the forest department, the rate now is 95%,” said Deepak Shrote a volunteer.

At least 35,000 trees were planted in the last 15 years on the 3km hill. Besides plantation, volunteers also began work on water and soil conservation.

Rajesh Uttarwar, another volunteer said, “Continuous Contour Trenches (CCT) are small check dam structures, which we began in 2017 for water and soil conservation. Structures like this arrest rain water from wasting downhill. With the trees growing more than 10 feet, and water and soil conservation resulted in grass of larger height which helped in reducing the speed and impact of rain.”

The CCTs led rainwater to percolate in the soil resulting in the increase of groundwater level and avoid a flood-like situation around the hill. In 2013-14, it was observed that despite the drought, the use of water tankers in the housing societies was considerably reduced because of the increase in ground water, said volunteers.

According to volunteers it takes three-five years for the results to show. This was eventually seen during the 2019 flash floods where there was no loss of life in the area.

Even on July 13, when the city battered rains, Pashan recorded 69 mm rainfall, highest in Pune, however, all water on the hill percolated inside within 8 hours.

“Hills are important as it helps maintain groundwater level, avoid flood and landsliding if it is supported by water and soil conservation work like that on Baner-Pahan hill,” said Shrote.