The Hindu 25.07.2012
August 15 is deadline to construct rainwater harvesting structures
The district administration has set August 15 as deadline for houses and industrial establishments to construct rainwater harvesting structures on their premises.
Groundwater level
According to Collector J. Kumaragurubaran, the deadline has been fixed to improve the depleting groundwater level, due to poor showers the district received in the South West Monsoon in June.
He pointed out that the district received an average 187.65 mm rainfall in June 2011 and had now dropped by 75 per cent to 46.87 mm in June 2012. “This has resulted in a drastic fall in the groundwater level in the district and the only way to enhance it is to make the best use of available water. Keeping this in mind, people should start saving the rainwater during the showers by harvesting it,” he said.
The Collector told The Hindu that the deadline for constructing the rainwater harvesting structures was taken at a recent review meeting with the heads of various government departments.
“Focus was to rejuvenate the already launched rainwater harvesting scheme in the open sources, government buildings and private buildings in three stages.”
In the first stage, a proposal was sent to the government seeking funds to carryout works to rejuvenate open sources. In the second stage, the government departments had been asked to provide micro level information on the number of government buildings in which the structures had been constructed and to check if they were functioning, the report for which was soon expected, he added.
Awareness
Mr. Kumaragurubaran said that the deadline for the public to construct the structures was the third phase to create awareness among them on the need to tap rainwater.
He added that houses and industries that had already have the structures should carryout repair and maintenance works and put them back to use, while those without one should construct such structures before the said date.
“From August 15 to 31, officials from the Municipality, Town and Village Panchayats will go door to door and check if the houses and other buildings within their limit are prepared to tap rainwater,” he said.
