Picture used for representative purposes only.
The Centre for Disaster Management (CDM) has recommended the town and country planning department, Haryana government, to make proper arrangements for rainwater harvesting in Gurgaon and Faridabad before the monsoon season to recharge groundwater.
Abhay Kumar Srivastava, head of Centre for Disaster Management, Gurgaon, said, “We have recommended the state government to ensure clearance of rainwater through proper channels to enhance the water table. Every housing society and condominium should have two channels for draining rainwater. Since the first rainwater of every monsoon should be pumped out through the drain to get rid of unwanted elements, there should be a second channel that is connected to harvesting systems to enhance the water table without contaminating it.”
The officials of CDM will soon start an awareness campaign in every housing society in Gurgaon about the alarming drop in the water table and how to harvest rainwater. The awareness campaign will also target slums in the city. In the first phase, CDM will begin from the localities in old Gurgaon.
“We all know that RO (Reverse Osmosis) systems purify water but they also waste more than three times the water they purify. We need to ensure that water is not wasted, but is utilized in horticulture, washing of cars, bathing or in toilets,” Srivastava said.
He added, “It has been observed in some areas that people are not used to closing taps properly. Leakage in water pipelines or broken taps are also reasons for water wastage. These are little but important things that need to be emphasized upon for creating awareness among people.”
The water table in Haryana, particularly in Gurgaon and Faridabad, has reached to such a point that the two cities have been classified under "dark zone." According to this report in the Business Standard, a dark zone refers to an area where groundwater level has fallen in a block beyond a parameter, which could differ according to the geography and rainfall pattern of a place. A block is first identified as critical before it being dubbed a dark zone.
