3 rain centres to give info on rainwater harvesting

NEW DELHI: The national capital now has three rain centres where people can get all relevant information about rainwater harvesting.

NEW DELHI: The national capital now has three rain centres where people can get all relevant information about rainwater harvesting.

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Delhi water minister Kapil Mishra launched the three centres in RK Puram, Dwarka and Lajpat Nagar, on Tuesday.

The three centres were functioning informally for the past few weeks but were inaugurated on Tuesday.

The Delhi government was pushing for a more active policy on rain water harvesting. All buildings constructed on an area of 500 met re squares or more are required to have rain water harvesting facilities or a reliable to pay a fine.

The last date for completion of construction is September 30.

“In order to arrest depletion of groundwater table, it has become necessary to adopt rainwater harvesting for recharge of groundwater. We will have a rain centre in each of the remaining revenue districts in the coming year,” Mishra said.

The rain centres will provide detailed information to make it easy for households, housing societies and colonies to adopt rainwater harvesting. It will recommend the type of rainwater harvesting based on relevant factors such as soil type, land usage and run-off water quality.

“There will be hands-on technical help in design and sourcing, training local plumbers and masons, capacity building, local awareness programs for RWH and water audits. Finally, it will make and maintain the RWH database of the area,” Mishra said.

Delhi’s groundwater situation has worsened over the years with several areas, especially in rocky south Delhi where water is found at a depth of 250 – 300 feet.