Vellore Corporation is set to enforce installation of rainwater harvesting systems (RWHS) as a public movement in the city.

A
meeting was convened by the Town Planning Section of the Corporation on
Thursday to discuss methods to ensure that the systems are been
properly implemented.

Commissioner P Janaki Raveendran said,
during the meeting of commissioners of all Municipalities and
Corporations in the State, organised by the Department of Municipal
Administration and Water Supply in Chennai on June 8, the department,
based on a study, informed that more rainfall was expected this year and
installation of rainwater harvesting systems would help make the most
of this situation and would also benefit the area in the coming years.

The
Commissioner also said the Corporation would take steps to revive the
existing rainwater harvesting structures and also conduct door-to-door
checks to ensure that every house has a system in place.

The
Corporation will also ensure that government buildings install RWHS,
besides concentrating on lakes, temple tanks, ponds and other water
bodies in the city, she said further.

Plans are on to conduct
awareness programmes, meetings, seminars and rallies involving school
and college students, in addition to issuing notices.

Janaki also
added that the implementation of the system will be considered for the
special award given by the State government for the best performing
Corporation for the year 2013-2014.

Mayor P Karthiyayini requested
for the full participation of the councillors to convey the importance
of the system to their ward residents. She said the local body had
already announced activities such as door-to-door checks in Gandhi
Nagar, in Katpadi, under wards 9 and 12.

Karthiyayini also said
usage of plastics and cutting of trees were the reasons for the
depletion of the water table in Vellore, in response to which the
Corporation in its budget for the year 2013-2014 has announced that it
would plant 65,000 saplings across the city.

Later, Town Planning
Officer P Kannan gave a presentation explaining different methods of
rainwater harvesting systems and various other ways to use rainwater for
drinking.