Hyderabad: Just two years ago, most bore wells had dried up in Gul Mohar colony near Hitec City and local residents rued their decision to purchase plots in a layout that was developed over rocky terrain.

Today, they are all smiles beca-use almost all borewells in the colony inhabited by over 1,000 families, are overflowing with groundwater. The complete turnaround in the scenario was made possible by the collective decision of colony residents to construct rainwater harvesting pits in every house.

“As on date, we have 200 rainwater harvesting pits  (RWH) in independent buildings and another dozen constructed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) at public places within the colony. There are 500 houses and 1,000 plus families.

Our target is to cover all buildings with rainwater harvesting pits and then construct many more on the roadsides and parks in the colony. It was not an easy task to convince people to invest Rs 5,000 for each RWH pit, but this summer, not a single borewell dried up. Now, families thank us for conducting a series of meetings with them to convince them to go for RWH pits,” said Gul Mohar colony president Shaik Khasim.

M. Satyam, an employee of Hyderabad Central University and resident of the colony said, “My RWH pit was the first to be inaugurated in the colony. Before the pit was constructed, we could not pump bore water through the motor for more than half an hour because it used to go dry.

After the rainwater harvesting pit was dug, we can run the motor for over an hour and the pressure of water has also increased. We passed this summer without any water problem.” Other residents echoed the sentiment.

There are 87 houses and 30 rain water harvesting pits in the colony.

“Our colony welfare association has a secretary to exclusively look after water issues and another office-bearer in charge of the environment. It is high time people realised the importance of keeping the air, water and environment clean and green,” said Lakshmi Vihar colony president Srikant.

GHMC zonal commissioner (West) Aleem Basha said that colony residents had invested money on rainwater harvesting pits and were now reaping the benefits in terms of having copious groundwater.

Though there was no scheme from the GHMC two years back, now the top civic body offers to refund 50 per cent of the cost incurred by residents of the colony towards setting up RHW pits in individual houses and 70 per cent cost reimbursement for RWH pits constructed at public places in the colony. 

“We will also provide technical support for the construction and maintenance of pits,” he said. He added that they have planned to construct 5,000 and more RWH pits in the next two months in and around the West Zone limits.