Bangalore team visits RWH structures in city, The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News

The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Bangalore team visits RWH structures in city: "

Bangalore is bound to go the Chennai way with regard to rainwater harvesting soon. As a precursor to making harnessing of rainwater mandatory, as in Chennai, a team of officials from Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) visited Chennai Metrowater's Rain Centre in Anna Nagar on Thursday to study the concept.The 30-member team, including plumbers, also toured a few other Metrowater rainwater harvesting (RWH) projects and models adopted in some houses and multi-storeyed apartments in Anna Nagar.Briefing the team, Metrowater officials said that given the average annual rainfall of about 1,200 mm in the city, an area of about 2,400 sq.ft. would receive about 2.67 lakh litres of rain water. Of this, at least 60 per cent can be recharged with proper RWH system.BWSSB chief engineer (Quality Assurance Wing) R.Vasudevan said the groundwater extraction in Bangalore was so much that the water level had dipped to about 300 feet below ground level. BWSSB supplied about 900 million litres of water a day (mld) against the demand of 1,300 mld. 'We depend on the Cauvery water drawn from 100 km away from the city. Due to this, about 75 per cent of the [BWSSB] revenue is spent on electricity charges,' he said.Therefore, it has been decided to make RWH mandatory in Bangalore to arrest groundwater depletion, he added. (snip)

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