Hyderabad: The Water Board has no significant plans and no budgetary allocation to build rain water harvesting pits this year. The board is only undertaking an awareness programme and rendering technical advice with the help of NGOs to promote rain water harvesting in big institutions. Last year the board had paid to create 2,200 pits at open spaces in colonies, at '3,500 per cubic metre. The maintenance was to be done by the resident welfare associations.
Some colonies have done a good job: Methodist Colony has 50 RWH pits which have replenished ground water and made it available at 100 feet. Vice president of the United Federation of Resident Welfare Associa-tions, Major Shiva Kiran, said such pits should be built in flood-prone areas. “Areas like Amberpet flood year after year and there is no apparent solution. If we find out from where all the rain water trickles into the area, and build a harvesting pit on the route, the problem could be solved,” he said.
Mr B.T. Srinivas, association vice general secretary, who maintained rain water harvesting pits at Malkajgiri, said, “The government comes up with a lot of innovative initiatives, but after that nobody takes ownership.” He said RWAs must be involved in these activities. They want the government to pay 75 per cent of the cost of the pits which could go up to Rs 2 lakh.
Mr Ram Mohan heads the RWA at Vivekanadapuram which is situated between a hillock, a quarry and a railway station. It experienced severe water shortage until 2013, when 35 rain water harvesting pits were installed. They used to pay for four tankers every week for three months, but now they are self-sufficient. Mr Ram Mohan is critical of the government’s attitude. “We made these RWHs in 2013, when GHMC had a 50 per cent incentive system. But the money was never reimbursed.”
