Rainwater harvesting in Gurugram still remains on paper

Rainwater harvesting (RWH), despite being mandatory, has not taken off in the city due to two reasons--the high initial cost of construction and regular maintenance, which becomes cumbersome for individual plot owners, and the lack of enforcement and inspections by authorities concerned, which leads to violations of rules-- experts and environmentalists say.

To be sure, the district administration has decided to inspect RWH structures in houses, condominiums and commercial projects from next week. Owners of private buildings as well as 39 government departments have been asked to assess the condition of their RWH structures and report to the administration on their condition by June 20, an official of GuruJal, the government’s integrated water management initiative, said.

Gurugram usually receives brief but intense spells of rain, which cause waterlogging and flooding across the city. Given the fact that the city’s soil is a mix of clay and fine sand, experts peg water percolation at 50% to 60%. However, due to non-optimal RWH systems, 70% to 80% of rainwater flows into the Najafgarh drain instead, civic agencies say.

“Due to heavy concretisation, 10 times more runoff is generated and gets wasted as it flows into drains. Every city resident needs to take responsibility for the rainwater and the government and private agencies should facilitate this by introducing new technologies,” said Sunil Kumar Pachar, CEO and co-founder, Ecolive, a rainwater expert .

Contractors and developers of plotted colonies admit that a majority of RWH structures in independent houses are built only to meet compliance norms, and once authorities issue occupancy certificates, the harvesting pits are forgotten. According to a Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) survey in 2018, this is one of the reasons why a city like Gurugram sees almost 80% of its rainwater flow into the Najafgarh drain.

Firms and practitioners who deal with RWH structures in the city also said that while authorities need to focus on large complexes, industries and condominiums for rainwater harvesting, smaller houses need to be tapped too. According to experts, constructing an RWH structure in a 500 square yard plot costs around ₹1.5 lakh, with an annual maintenance of around ₹12,000 to ₹15,000, and most small plot owners neither have the inclination nor the resources to take up RWH seriously.

The need for scale and resources to operate an RWH system and sewage treatment plant is exemplified by Sare Homes in Sector 92, where the Residents’ Welfare Authority ( RWA) spends around ₹15 lakh annually on these operations. “The STP in our condominium treats 600KLD water daily and it is used for horticulture, watering the green belt outside the complex and to fill an artificial pond which helps recharge the groundwater,” said Pravin Malik, president of Sare Homes RWA.

Malik said that 13 harvesting pits in their colony are cleaned every two months and around ₹3 lakh annually is spent on their upkeep. “A large number of condominiums don’t have functional STPs and make RWH structures only to comply with building codes. This needs to be checked by authorities,” he said, adding that GMDA recently appreciated the practices taken up by their condominium.

“While rainwater harvesting is more effective in large complexes such as industries, hospitals, hotels and condominiums, there is no initiative and drive when it comes to smaller plots. Eighty per cent of the time, once owners obtain occupancy certificates, they forget all about these structures,” said SK Tiwari, managing director, Hitech Drilling, a Gurugram firm, which has been working with rainwater harvesting for several years.

The condition of RWH systems in plotted colonies is worse than in condominiums. Pravin Yadav, president, Ardee City RWA said that most of the RWH structures in his colony have been non-functional for the past several years. “Now that the colony is being transferred to Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), we hope that RWH as well as other services are delivered soon,” he said.

Meanwhile, experts allege most stakeholders, including residents, RWAs and government authorities, are largely indifferent towards the conservation of water.

According to Vaishali Chandra Rana, a city-based environmentalist, “Even in our society on Faridabad Road, harvesting pits are not ready for the upcoming monsoon. People forget the concept of water harvesting as soon as the monsoon is over,” she said.

The reply to an RTI application Rana filed to check the status of RWH structures under the MCG’s jurisdiction also doesn’t paint a rosy picture--the agency is building RWH structures in various wards—which are still in various stages of construction. The agency has 271 existing RWH structures--253 residential and 18 institutional--under its jurisdiction, the RTI reveals. The civic agency has also managed to develop only 14 ponds of the 72 it pledged to, while others are in various stages of preparation (work still is being allotted, estimates are still being prepared, tenders are still being issued).

MCG’s data on monsoon preparedness also does not evoke much confidence as less than half of its RWH pits are functional, according to the agency’s recent report on monsoon preparedness. Until last month, only 41% (145 of 354) of the RWH pits under the jurisdiction of MCG’s engineering wing were functional, the report said.

According to the document, the MCG was only able to make 174 RWH pits functional in 2019 and only 165 in 2018, due to a lack of bids from potential contractors leading to a major delay in the execution of work.

The district administration, GuruJal, and the department of town and country planning are now determined to enforce RWH compliance in private residences, condominiums and government buildings.

The district administration plans to conduct random checks at 66 large residential and commercial complexes in Gurugram. It has also written to 39 government departments for details of RWH structures on their premises and to ensure that they are functional, said a GuruJal official.

RS Bhath, district town planner, enforcement, who is also the nodal officer for RWH in the city, said that teams will also conduct random checks at houses built on at least 500 square yards apart from condominiums and complexes, to ensure that harvesting pits are functional. “We have observed that owners create RWH structures only to comply with building rules, but the pits later become non-functional. This will not be allowed. Also, we will randomly inspect over 60 complexes in collaboration with GuruJal,” he said.

GuruJal data shows the district has 722 public RWH structures under the jurisdiction of MCG, Municipal Corporation of Manesar, and Panchayati Raj institutions. These structures, officials say, have the potential to recharge 1,448MLD of rainwater.

Sachin Kumar, technical officer, GuruJal, said they are working with all civic agencies to ensure that the RWH structures are properly cleaned and made functional before monsoon.

Other GuruJal officials, meanwhile, said that the district administration has already ordered the city magistrate to check for RWH structures in government buildings. “If there are violations, then we will submit a status report to the respective department for corrective action and penalise it,” Osho Kalia, a GuruJal official, said, adding that they will ensure that these systems are cleaned and working.

The GuruJal society’s Rain Centre will also provide technical know-how to residents who want help in setting up such structures or to clean them. Residents can also lodge RWH-related complaints at this centre for immediate resolution. “We received around eight complaints at this centre--related to nonfunctional pits, lack of cleaning and leakage of wastewater--and have taken action,” Bhath said.

With rainwater harvesting proving difficult to implement and enforce in urban residential areas, civic agencies in the city are moving towards other alternatives for largescale water conservation and storage such as pond revival, digging of trenches in vacant lands and also directing the water towards open spaces in government land. They, however, said that focus on cleaning and maintaining existing RWH structures in both public and private areas continues.

Subash Yadav, additional CEO, GMDA, “The harvesting of surface water is easier if large ponds are revived, trenches dug and the rainwater directed to green areas and parks. We are digging trenches in low-lying areas and creating ponds so rainwater can be diverted there,” he said, adding that rainwater will be diverted to green belts and spaces in parks as well.

Outlining their priorities this year, an MCG official said, “We plan to rejuvenate ponds this year, as it helps recharge the groundwater table and conserve water on a larger scale. We will look at rainwater harvesting pits as the next measure for water conservation once we finish rejuvenating 72 ponds.”

Officials of the state irrigation department, which works in collaboration with GuruJal and Haryana Water Resources Authority, meanwhile, said that they are preparing a plan for boosting the water table of 162 villages in the district. “We need to take measures to conserve water in rural areas as well. We will rejuvenate ponds, treat wastewater, and focus on crop diversification, micro irrigation and on water harvesting through injection wells,” SS Rawat, superintending engineer, Haryana irrigation and water resources department, said, adding they will prepare a plan by June 30.

Experts, meanwhile, said that apart from rainwater harvesting, there was a need to utilise treated wastewater to reduce stress on groundwater and potable water.

In this regard, the GMDA said that it is trying to ensure that treated wastewater is used for horticulture and construction across the city. “We have laid a 116km pipeline to carry treated wastewater across the city so that it can be used in public parks, construction and other activities. Twelve water hydrants have been installed at different places to make treated water available to tankers for construction,” said Rajesh Bansal, chief engineer, infrastructure II, GMDA.

The authority also plans to install a pipeline to take treated water to Damdama Lake to help recharge the groundwater.

“GMDA has also recently completed laying a 22.11km lateral pipeline network for the purpose of watering green belts. Authorities had planned to install a 100km lateral pipeline along master roads during the 2022-23, of which 22.11km are ready, and work on 5.9km is in progress,” said Subhash Yadav, additional CEO, urban environment, GMDA.