The Hindu 14.06.2013
Awareness programme on rainwater harvesting
The Town Planning Officer of Vellore Corporation,
Kannan, gave a power point presentation on rainwater harvesting, at a
consultation-cum-awareness meeting of councillors convened by Vellore
Mayor P. Karthiyayini here on Thursday, to seek their cooperation in
implementing the rainwater harvesting (RWH) scheme in Vellore
Corporation.
The Mayor said that the indiscriminate
strewing of garbage, especially plastics blocked the process of seepage
of rainwater in many places. This prevented the recharge of the
groundwater table which had depleted on account of the drought
conditions prevailing in Vellore.
Carry the message
The
councillors should carry the message of rainwater harvesting to the
residents in their wards in order to conserve the rainwater and prevent
water scarcity, she said.
Mr. Kannan explained with illustrations of models in Chennai the different types of RWH structures.
Rainwater
could be harvested by allowing the rainwater flowing through the outlet
pipes from the terrace to seep through a thick top layer of sand and a
bottom layer of stone jelly or broken bricks in recharge trenches.
Alternatively,
rainwater could also be allowed to be collected in underground shallow
recharge wells built with porous brick walls. Another method was to
collect the rainwater in a ground-level sump after filtration, and
conveying overflowing filtered water to the existing open well. The
rainwater could also be linked to functioning borewells, he said.
The TPO said that rainwater could be harvested in all types of houses including slums.