‘Rain water harvesting, only sustainable way to avoid flooded roads’

Noted water conservationist and founder of The Rainwater Project, Kalpana Ramesh said Hyderabad has a lot of scope to harvest rainwater and avoid flooded roads

Hyderabad: Come monsoon, water-logged roads are inevitable in all major cities. Experts suggest that the most efficient and perhaps the only sustainable way to deal with this problem is by investing in local and micro-level solutions like harvesting the rain water.

The recent rainfall in Hyderabad flooded several road stretches which led to traffic snarls. Like most other metro cities, Hyderabad too is a concrete jungle built on a plateau.

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Noted water conservationist and founder of The Rainwater Project, Kalpana Ramesh says the city has a lot of scope to harvest rainwater and avoid flooded roads. “It is the roads in the low-lying areas that are often water-logged. If we can capture as much rainwater as possible around the city, it will automatically reduce the runoff,” she says.

Encouraging not just residential colonies but also schools, hospitals, and office spaces to build water harvesting tanks, Kalpana says that flyovers in the city can also be used to harvest rainwater.

“We have so many flyovers in the city and they can all capture rainwater. The lines can go between the pillars and using drip irrigation water can be used to water plants below them. The strength of the pillar is also not affected by this,” she says.

The lack of awareness in harvesting rainwater shows that it is the most underappreciated resource in urban spaces. A 1000 sft rooftop can capture up to one lakh liters of water in just 45-55 days of rainfall in a year. The plastic water bottles we buy have one liter for approximately one rupee. With that calculation, water worth lakhs is being channeled into our city gutters for nothing.

“We fail to harvest rainwater but bring in water from lakes outside the city just to use it in our flush. Will you dry up all our rivers? Harvesting rainwater is not a choice. It is our duty,” she points out.

Kalpana says it is perfectly alright to drink purified rainwater. It can also be used to water plants and for various other household chores. If only one bothers to spend a few bucks to build the harvesting tanks.