The Hindu        20.12.2011

‘Rainwater harvesting should be voluntary and not mandatory'

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.