Hyderabad: Rainwater harvesting theme park shut, RWAs express concern

Hyderabad’s rainwater harvesting theme park in Jubilee Hills has been closed, raising concerns among RWAs and students. The HMWSSB said declining footfall led to the shutdown of the awareness facility, which showcased water conservation techniques since its opening in 2018.

Hyderabad: The country’s second rainwater harvesting theme park in Hyderabad has been closed, resulting in a missed opportunity to raise awareness of rainwater harvesting among city resident welfare associations (RWAs) and students.

With the facility no longer operating, efforts to promote rainwater harvesting through regular engagement and education have been affected, and the outreach that the park was meant to support has not continued.

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With many localities across Greater Hyderabad already facing serious groundwater decline and thousands of borewells having dried up, the HMWSSB, which has been playing a key role in encouraging RWH pits, has shut the theme park.

During the previous BRS rule, the HMWSSB set up this rainwater harvesting theme park spread across a three-acre site on Road No 51 in Jubilee Hills. The initiative was intended to raise awareness about water harvesting among city residents as well as students. This theme park is the second in India after Bengaluru.

The RWH theme park showcased close to 40 different measures focused on water conservation techniques, ranging from percolation systems designed to restore groundwater levels to storing water for future use.

Since it opened in 2018, there has been a very positive response from RWAs, NGOs, and students to the RWH theme park. Around 3,000 to 5,000 visitors come to the theme park each month.

However, over the last year, there has been a noticeable fall in footfall. “We kept the park open till this March and then closed it,” a senior HMWSSB official told ‘Telangana Today’. After schools reopened, the theme park will be opened, he replied.

A few Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) within the GHMC limits shared their concern about the closure of the RWH theme park and insisted that HMWSSB officials should reopen it.

Although the HMWSSB is accessible to them, they said that, for students, this RWH theme park serves as a knowledge hub for rainwater harvesting techniques.