The Hindu 20.12.2011
‘Rainwater harvesting should be voluntary and not mandatory’
Individual effort a mere drop in the ocean, say angry citizens
WATERED DOWN RULE?: Buildings on sites measuring 60 x 40 ft have to
compulsorily install rainwater harvesting units. — File photo: BHAGYA
PRAKASH K.
Upset with the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board
(BWSSB) for making rainwater harvesting mandatory and threatening
supply disconnection to those who don’t comply with it, citizens are now
demanding that the board first adopt the system at the community level.
“It
should be made voluntary and not mandatory. Even if the system is
adopted by all the 55,000 buildings identified, the harvested water will
suffice only 1.7 per cent of the city’s requirement. Let BWSSB first
streamline its infrastructure and allow only rainwater in storm-water
drains, which have turned into sanitary drains,” said N. Mukund Rao,
member of Citizens Action Forum.
‘Pull up your socks’
Pointing
out that there are more than 1,000 km of storm-water drains
criss-crossing the city, he said scores of illegal sewage connections
and trunk sewer lines run into these drains. Without setting its own
house in order, how can the board enforce it on citizens? he asked.
Empowered
with a rule that will enable the water board to cut off water and
sanitary connections to property whose owners don’t adopt rainwater
harvesting by December 31, BWSSB officials are again appealing to
citizens to comply with the order.
Of the 55,000
buildings on sites measuring 60 x 40 ft that have to compulsorily
install the units, only 31,667 buildings have complied with the rule. Of
these, only 200 are government buildings. Existing houses on 30 x 40 ft
sites are exempted.
Going to court
A few like-minded citizens, mostly pensioners who cannot afford to install the system, have threatened to go to court.
Admitting that there was poor response from citizens, BWSSB Minister S. Suresh Kumar told
The Hindu
on Monday that the threat to disconnect water supply “was only to ensure
more citizens adopted the system”. “The water board knows water is the
fundamental right that cannot be denied to citizens,” he said.
A
decision on extending the deadline or whether BWSSB itself should
install the system for citizens and recover the amount through monthly
bills would be taken in January, he said.
