Guntur:Tapping potential of rainwater

Every drop of rain counts. For people in Guntur, bracing up for a season of sweltering summer, rainwater harvesting might just be the solution to recharge groundwater. And Rathaiah Yella, member of task force on RainWater Harvesting (RWH), GMC has been going about the task of setting up of RWH structures in households/commercial shops with a missionary zeal.

The rainwater filter costing Rs.4,000 is sold by John Daniel in Bangalore and the total cost of the system is Rs.7,500. “Rainwater harvesting using rain water filter has improved the quality of borewells since the salts in borewater are diluted by rainwater. It also ensures that the borewell does not dry up in summer,'' Mr. Rathaiah told The Hindu on Wednesday. Four such RWH structures have been installed in Guntur, including one at a commercial complex at Arundelpet 10th lane. A member of GMC task force on rainwater harvesting, Mr. Rathaiah is overseeing digging of percolation tanks in over 200 new structures in the city.

 Mr. Rathaiah has installed an innovative RWH structure at his house in Bharathpet 5th lane that does not require digging of a percolation pit. The process is simple and cheap. Using a set of 75 mm PVC pipes, Mr. Rathiah connected all the rainwater holes from the roof top. The pipes are connected to a rainwater filter, Raintap-marketed by a Bangalore based firm, and the pipe carrying the filtered water is connected to the borewell through a hole made in the casing pipe of borewell.

The rainwater filter has a first flush device to pump out dirty water and after allowing the flush for 10 minutes, one could turn the lever on to allow the water to be pumped to the borewell. The method is presently used in Bengaluru and Mumbai corporations, which have made it mandatory to install RWH structures in buildings with more than 223 square metres and new buildings with 111 square metres.