KASARGOD: Sojan Joseph is happy that more households in the state are waking up to the need for conservation of rainwater due to the simmering heat. Mr Joseph, a ferrocement technician at Bheemanadi, Kasargod had constructed close to 6,000 rainwater harvesting (RWH) tanks made of ferrocement in the past 15 years that would collect about four crore litres of rain.
His firm, Sustainable Development Associates, had built tanks with the capacity ranging from 10,000 to 20 lakh litres across the state besides Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. He alerts that Keralites can no longer sit idle on nature’s bounty of surplus water and allow the rainwater to drain out.
“We still did not face the real drought. Storing rainwater in a 40,000-litre ferrocement tank will suffice for the requirement of a five-member family throughout a year,” he says. Ferrocement tank costs only half the price of a concrete tank and has 30 years of life, according to him. A 10,000-litre capacity tank will be set up in 10 feet of land costing around Rs 50,000.
The system on top of the tank will filter the rainwater collected on the rooftop and stores the filtered water. “Only round shaped tank should be made. The wall of the tank will have an only 1.5-inch thickness,” Mr Joseph explained.
Tanks should be set up in two ways, either on the ground or digging the earth. His team had constructed a giant 20 lakh litre capacity RWH tank at Koothuparamba Nirmalagiri College.
He had built umpteen tanks for ‘Jalanidhi’ project of the state government. He says ferrocement RWH system is best for areas having high salinity. “There is a rule that all houses above 2,000 square feet must have RWH system. But the local self-government institutions are turning a blind eye towards it,” laments the 45-year old.
