News: June 30 deadline to revive rainwater harvesting structures-18-03-2021
June 30 deadline to revive rainwater harvesting structures
The Gurugram administration set June 30 as the deadline for civic agencies to ensure that all rainwater harvesting structures in the district are made functional.
“Departments or agencies concerned will be mobilised from now so that the rainwater can be managed in the district well before the arrival of monsoon. After checking the functionality of the rainwater harvesting system, they should be mapped and their coordinates uploaded on One Map Gurugram,” said deputy commissioner (DC) Yash Garg.
In a meeting on Wednesday, deputy commissioner Yash Garg was apprised that 413 rainwater structures are installed in areas under the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and that the same would be made functional.
“We will be working on cleaning, de-silting and retrofitting of the available rainwater harvesting systems in the city. We will also be working towards developing new rainwater harvesting systems across Gurugram,” said an MCG official who attended the meeting on Wednesday, requesting anonymity.
In March first week, the district administration launched a comprehensive campaign for water conservation to improve the groundwater level in the district. As part of the campaign, the district administration will be checking rainwater harvesting structures on priority, especially at large-scale residential and commercial establishments.
In May 2020, the MCG had made it mandatory for all residential buildings, group housing societies, schools, hotels and industrial establishments falling within the limits of the civic body to install rainwater harvesting systems. As per clause 8.1(1) of the Haryana Building Code, rainwater harvesting systems must be installed by the plot owner, in buildings having a rooftop area of 100 square metres or more.
The campaign will be carried out by a five-member committee, with representatives from the MCG, Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and the member-secretary of GuruJal Society, who is also the district development and panchayat officer.
The DC also said that a target of building 150 more rainwater harvesting systems in rural areas has been set for the upcoming financial year. “First public notice/order would be taken out mentioning the rainwater harvesting campaign. Non-functionality of rainwater harvesting structures or violation of the norm will lead to the cancellation of occupation certificate,” Garg said.
The administration also aims to clean drains through which rainwater can be harvested naturally to increase the groundwater table.
On March 1, in a meeting between the district town planners for planning and enforcement and GuruJal, officials decided that a legal framework for the implementation of rainwater harvesting structures in Gurugram will be prepared and a rainwater harvesting enforcement drive will be conducted in the city.
Between 2014 and 2018, the groundwater table in Gurugram district reduced by two-and-a-half metres. In 2014, the district recorded an average groundwater level of 26.3 metres. By 2018, this level had dipped to 28.9 metres across four monitoring blocks of Gurugram, Sohna, Pataudi and Farrukhnagar. The latest data obtained from the agricultural department’s groundwater cell revealed that between June 2019 and June 2020, the groundwater table in Gurugram district dropped by 0.27 metres and stood at 29.86 metres.
