Citizens find solutions to rain woes

Chennai

Chennai, Nov 1

Last year, before the monsoon, the residents of Adyar, Besant Nagar and Shastri Nagar requested Corporation officials to construct Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) Structures in public places and road sides to prevent stagnation of rainwater. The campaign was supported by ‘SPARK’, a civic activists’ group, Sekar Raghavan of the Rain Centre, and Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association, Thiruvanmiyur.

Cost-effective solution
Where water used to once stagnate for days now stands for less than an hour. Sekar Raghavan, however, points out that in areas where there was no storm water drainage system, the civic body had to only construct percolating pits that would recharge the ground water. This could be done at a lower cost. “Instead of spending an atrocious amount of money in the construction of storm water drainage systems, the civic body can spend a fraction of the amount to construct percolating pits that will recharge groundwater,” says Sekar Raghavan of Rain Centre.

Persistent residents managed to get these pits constructed in Besant Nagar, Adyar and Shastri Nagar. Some residents even took personal interest in monitoring the work. “Desalination of RWH structures has to be done for water to flow. It has not been cleaned this year and we have approached the corporation to clear these pits to avoid stagnation when it rains,” says Dr. T. D. Babu of ‘SPARK’.

Being prepared
Before the monsoon, some residents took appropriate steps to ensure that their neighbourhood is flood free. The playground at Officers’ Colony Main Road in Anna Nagar West Extension would, until recently, turn into a swimming pool after a couple of hours of rain owing to lack of storm water drains. “We requested the civic officials to provide a modern rainwater harvesting system as a solution – and they did. This will prevent flooding,” said V. Rajagopal, president, Anna Nagar Western Extension Phase II Residents Welfare Association.

Ways to conserve water
•    Those who have wells in their house can have the water collected from the rooftop through a filtering system during the rain and store the water in the well.

•    Apartments and houses that do not have wells, can create a well-like structure. They will have to dig till the sandy bottom is reached and make it suitable for storing water. They can connect the parking lots, so that it’s not flooded.

•    The simplest way is to keep drums or barrels on rooftops to collect water that can be used for domestic use

•    To know more about Rainwater Harvesting Structures, check http:// www.raincentre.net/