The Hindu 30.01.2014
Survey taken up to identify insanitary toilets, buildings
Civic body plans to create over 100 recharge pits for harvesting rainwater
Tiruchirapalli City Corporation has begun a survey to identify insanitary toilets and buildings in the city in order to initiate appropriate follow-up measures, said Corporation Commissioner V.P. Thandapani here on Wednesday.
The survey will enumerate toilets and buildings considered insanitary if they do not have proper disposal mechanism for human waste. Toilets which are not connected to the underground drainage or septic tanks, and those which let out sewage into open drains will be considered insanitary.
Once the survey is completed, notice will be issued to owners to initiate appropriate measures, he said at a workshop on ‘Simple steps to achieve water security – rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling,’ organised by the Rain Centre, Chennai, and SCOPE, a voluntary organisation, in the city.
Mr. Thandapani said the civic body had planned to create over 100 re-charge pits for harvesting rainwater across the city, especially in areas where rainwater is found stagnant.
Emphasising the need for proper design and maintenance of rainwater harvesting structures (RWH), Mr. Thandapani said the corporation had taken up a campaign to ensure that all buildings in the city had RWH structures last year. However, many buildings are yet to be provided with RWH structures or require rejuvenation of existing ones.
He said RWH structures should be designed properly in proportion to the built-up area and open space in a particular building, and the quantity of the rainwater that could be harvested. In most buildings, RWH structures had been put up to meet minimal requirement. Town planning officers and engineers should ensure that the structures were designed properly taking into account the annual average rainfall of the area and the soil conditions.
Sekhar Raghavan, Director, Rain Centre, Akash Ganga Trust, which had set up the Rain Centre, had received a grant from Arghyam, a non-governmental organisation based in Bangalore, to conduct 15 workshops on efficient methods of rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling in Tamil Nadu. Six of them had been held in Chennai and three each are being organised in Coimbatore, Madurai, and Tiruchi, he said.
