The Times of India  27.08.2010

Metrowater chants harvesting mantra to save rainwater

CHENNAI: With the rains lashing the city, the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) has started areawise awareness programmes on maintenance of rain water harvesting (RWH) structures.

The training programme was inaugurated on Tuesday by the CMWSSB managing director Shiv Das Meena at Royapuram. On Thursday, a training session was conducted in Kilpauk metrowater office. Residents from surrounding areas like Kolathur and Kilpauk attended. RWH expert Sekar Raghavan also gave tips on maintaining RWH structures.

"In 2003, when the government made it mandatory for houses to install RWH structures everyone abided. But not much awareness is there about maintaining them," said Subramanian, a hydro-geologist with the CMWSSB.

Some of the maintenance tips are cleaning the roof top, ensuring that there are no blocks or cracks in the rainwater pipes, cleaning the percolation pit, ensuring that the rainwater reaches the recharge well and removing the silt and debris in the recharge well.

"The city witnesses two monsoons -- South-West between June to September -- and North-East. Earlier, we used to hold awareness camps before the North-East monsoon alone, but now we will hold them in two phases: one before the South-West and one prior to the North-East monsoon," said Subramanian.

He said that one important aspect that has to be considered before setting up a RWH is the depth at which soil is found. "Some areas are clayey, some rocky and some have sand. The residents have to make sure that the pipeline should run deep enough to reach the soil so that it can absorb the water," he said.

If rainwater is harvested, ground water level would increase. "Chennai is near the sea and does not have any perennial rivers to rely upon. So it is important that we raise the ground water level," he said.

The Hindu       25.08.2010

Corporation drive against unauthorised hoardings

Special Correspondent

Distraction:Coimbatore Corporation workers removing an unauthorised hoarding in the city on Tuesday.

COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore Corporation removed flex boards and hoardings in the city on Tuesday as part of a drive against those put up without permission from the authorities concerned.

Officials in the civic body said the special demolition squad, constituted to demolish unauthorised buildings and encroachments, was carrying out the task of removing the hoardings also.

An official said the Corporation was upset at the resistance to the enforcement of rules governing the display of hoardings. The hoardings were put up again by private companies or advertisers at the very place from where they were removed.

The removal was done to send a clear warning against unauthorised hoardings. But, this was not being taken seriously. The return of the hoardings was a pointer to the resistance to the enforcement of rules, the official said.

The District Collector (who is the licensing authority) and the City Police Commissioner had clearly asked advertisers not to put up unauthorised hoardings. The Corporation Commissioner too had issued orders to crack down on such hoardings/flex boards. Following this, the special squad had so far removed about 100 unauthorised hoardings from areas near the North Coimbatore Flyover and Avanashi Flyover and also at Gandhipuram, Lakshmi Mills Junction (on Avanashi Road) and Saibaba Temple (Mettupalayam Road). All these were heavy traffic zones and hoardings that violated rules distracted the attention of drivers.

In some places, the Corporation had removed the scaffolding also, in order to prevent the hoardings from being put up again. The civic body's drive would continue. A close watch was being kept on locations where the hoardings had already been removed, in order to prevent these from being put up again.