Road side rain water harvesting, a boon for ground water regeneration

Lack of monsoon is elevating the risk of drought situation in Nagpur. Now, the time has come when every individual and local administration have to think about water conservation and restoration of ground water by artificial techniques. Rainwater harvesting can provide lifeline water for survival. But this water is often left waste and little harvested. The rain water falling on roads, private, Government vacant places and play grounds etc straight away reach to the nearby drainage and ultimately mixes with sewage water. As a result of this, the entire rain water becomes polluted and eventually it contaminates the ground water.

Hence, rain water harvesting from roads and vacant places becomes essential in order to recharge the ground water. The Central and State Governments are taking all possible steps for harvesting rainwater throughout India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also appealed citizens and village heads to adopt roof-top water harvesting to avoid drought like situation in their villages. Nagpur grew along the banks of Nag river and Pili river. But, negligence and pollution due to the rapid growth of industries clubbed with population growth and urbanisation, resulted the conversation of these rivers into huge open sewage line. The rain water falling on roads, straight away entering in both rivers. The fewer the annual rainy days or longer the dry period, the more the need for rainwater collection in a region and Nagpur also facing the same climatic changes from last few years.

However, if the dry period is too long, big storage tanks needed to store rainwater. Hence in such regions, it is more feasible to use rainwater to recharge groundwater aquifers rather than for storage. “About 90 per cent rainwater goes waste every year and only 10 per cent recharge the ground water level in our country. Keeping this in mind, Government should come forward and initiate road side water harvesting to recharge our natural reservoirs,” said Rohit Deshpande, an environment activist, National skater and a skating coach to The Hitavada.

According to him, “Many playgrounds, parks and Government buildings are situated near main roads all around the city. Administration should collect rain water by constructing artificial tanks in the premises of such buildings and parks. Existing wells can be also a good option for direct recharge of ground water.” He also advised to construct a filtration unit in the premises to filter the water. The rain water that falls on roads should be diverted to these storage through storm water lines or underground pipes. He also urged administration to strict implementation of roof top water harvesting for every building and house in the city. To avoid drought in our city, every individual has to come forward and put efforts to regenerate the natural water sources of the city.