Deccan Herald 12.08.2013
BWSSB may crack the whip on RWH defaulters
The BWSSB has issued notices to over 5,000
residents for not installing rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems in their
homes. Repeated requests and warnings on the mandatory installation of
RWH systems in houses constructed on sites measuring 60 feet x 40 feet
and above have largely gone unheeded.
The Board is now
keen on going a step further by disconnecting water supply to these
houses from Monday, if steps are not taken to instal RWH systems.
T
Venkataraju, engineer-in-chief of BWSSB, said, “We are tired of
extending the deadline as we have given them enough time. They are
giving us only excuses for not installing the structures. Many residents
say they do not have the financial means to instal the structures as
their children are living abroad. Others say that the dimension of their
houses is much less than 60X40 and that they do not come under the
purview of the rule,” he said.
disconnection drive, it is very difficult as the roads have to be dug up
to disconnect the main lines.
“We cannot just cut off the lines
near the water meters as the residents are quite capable of
re-connecting them. Moreover, digging up the road will create another
mess for which the Board will be blamed,” Venkataraju said.
The
BWSSB, through an amendment in 2009, made RWH compulsory for all those
residing in houses measuring 60X40 and above and in houses proposed to
be constructed on a 30X40 area. The Board identified over 55,000 such
houses in the core areas of the City and 13,531 houses in the newly
added BBMP areas. As per the Board’s records, till date over 46,500
houses have installed RWH structures and 21,900-odd identified houses
are yet to install the structures.
The Board was pulled up by
the High Court recently in a suo motu PIL, for not supplying clean
drinking water to the residents affected by groundwater contamination.
The
court has directed the Board to supply water to residents in and around
Bannerghatta, Iblur and Varthur. But these areas do not come under
BWSSB’s supply area. Following the PIL, BWSSB had again asked the
‘identified residents’ to instal RWH structures by August 3, 2013.
