With taps drying up in many areas in the peak summer, residents of Gurgaon have come together to harvest rainwater in a big way. They want each of their societies and condominiums to adopt rainwater harvesting system to meet the exigency in times of crisis.
The city faces acute shortage of water every summer. One of the reasons for this situation is depletion of groundwater. According to data provided by the Groundwater Cell of the Department of Agriculture, Haryana, the city's water table has fallen from 6.64m in June 1974 to 26.18m in June 2014.
Dwelling on the water woes of the city, BS Lamba, Hydrologist of HUDA, told City Spidey, "Gurgaon, on an average, receives 600mm rainfall. With no place for the water to seep in, every time it rains, streets and roads are flooded with rainwater. Thus, most of the rainwater eventually runs off with negligible groundwater recharge."
Recently, Aardee City started digging pits, ahead of monsoon, to help recharge groundwater. Its RWA president, TN Kaul, informed that they are digging four 40 feet deep pits.
He said, “We witness lot of flooding during the rainy season. If the rainwater is allowed to recharge the underground water, it will benefit all."
Residents of Sun City and Nirvana Country have decided to dig new pits while cleaning existing ones in their respective societies to facilitate groundwater recharge. "Water collected from rooftops will be channelled into these pits where it will seep into the ground," said Saurabh Singh, a resident of Sun City,
Nirvana Country, which has bore wells installed in the society, did not face any water shortage during the recent heat wave. Residents of the society still feel the need for everyone to conserve water.
