The Hindu 25.07.2012
Rainwater harvesting made mandatory in Gurgaon
The district administration has now made it mandatory
for houses with more than 100 square metres covered area to have a
rainwater harvesting system in place. Twenty teams have been constituted
to grant permission to install the systems and ensure their
functioning.
The orders come in the wake of a recent
Punjab and Haryana High Court directions barring Haryana Urban
Development Authority (HUDA) from issuing fresh licences for housing
projects without an undertaking from the builders not to draw ground
water.
District Magistrate P.C. Meena has appointed
Superintending Engineers concerned of HUDA and Municipal Corporation
Gurgaon as overall in-charge to ensure implementation of orders and said
that supervisory officers would be held responsible for any lapses or
violations of the orders.
The teams have been
directed to grant permission for installation of the rainwater
harvesting system within 10 days of receiving the application and ensure
that system is used only for recharge of aquifer and not for
abstracting ground water. The applicant will have to give an undertaking
along with the application showing the complete address of the
registered owner or agency of boring machine before the injection of
tube-well for the said system. The applicant will also have to give an
undertaking saying that he would adhere to directions of the Central
Ground Water Authority and the Supreme Court.
The
teams have been directed to check the installation of the rainwater
harvesting system in the premises of the applicant after completion of
work and send progress report to the Member Secretary District Advisory
Committee-cum-Hydrologist in the first week of every month.
The
Hydrologist will in turn compile the progress report and submit
consolidated report to the Deputy Commissioner’s office for discussion
at District Advisory Committee meeting.
According to
the district administration, the total water supply to the city is just
60 MGD against the total demand of 200 MGD and hence daily withdrawal of
ground water works out to be 140 MGD.
The withdrawal
of ground water at this rate has caused its level to plummet by 8
metres per annum posing a severe danger of ground water being completely
exhausted in the next few years.
For houses with more than 100 square metres covered area
