Thiruvananthapuram: Bank on tanks, say water messiahs

Thiruvananthapuram: A 1,000-litre tank will provide enough water for drinking and cooking for a year for a family of five in Thiruvananthapuram,  according to a water expert, S. Vishwanath of Bengaluru.   He says so because Thiruvananthapuram gets a lot of rain. He thinks it is time to start the habit of conserving water. “Do not over-theorise. Do not say ‘but.’ Just begin. In Thiruvananthapuram, a 1,000-litre tank can be emptied several times and filled as there would be enough rain. Instead of an elaborate filtering system, use cloth. If the water you get is bad, then use the charcoal-based filter. The key point is to begin,” he says.    In fact, Water Minister Mathew T. Thomas recently said that the city has received more rain  than some of the worst-hit districts like Kasargod, Malappuram and Palakkad.  Aruvikkara and Neyyar experienced less  amount of rainfall than the city area. A 1,000-sq-ft roof area receives 3.5 lakh litres of rainfall, according to experts.

What then stops the city residents from tapping into the water which falls on their rooftops? People usually cite space constraints as a reason, says Mr V. Subhashchandra Bose, a water expert in Thiruvananthapuram.  He cites examples of people who have built rainwater harvesting storage beneath their garage, garden and in one case, beneath the bedroom. “The ones who have two-storey buildings can place fibre tank storage on the second floor. Or, people can try placing two or three 2,000-litre tanks at various points,” he says. The former CCDU director has a 10,000-litre tank in his five-cent plot. The filtration units are not readily available in the market. Searching for ‘green reporter’ and ‘monsoon media’ on YouTube will take you to a video he shot. It shows how to make filtration units using charcoal, sand and metal.