KURNOOL: At a time when water conservation should have been given a top priority, considering the acute water shortage and delay in monsoon, the rainwater harvesting measures have been given a go by builders in the city. Officials admit that almost 90 per cent of apartments in the city lack rainwater harvesting (RWH) pits. Some builders had dug pits just to get permission from the Kurnool Municipal Corporation (KMC) and later converted them into water sumps.
The GO MS No 32 and GO 119, issued by the State government, make it mandatory for apartments and individual houses, built on an area of 200 sq meters and above, to have rainwater harvesting pits.
However, builders of most of the apartments disregarded the GOs and got away with it by paying a penalty before construction.
Municipal officials are also to blame for the sad state of affairs as they never took it seriously to check whether apartment builders complied with rainwater harvesting norms or not, and even if they found lapses, they were content themselves with collecting the penalty amount.
“Only 15 rainwater harvesting pits have been built in about 50 apartments. Though the builders were told to adhere to rules, they simply ignored. Warnings of being penalised failed to have any effect as they have already paid fine,” said town planning supervisor M Rajesh.
There are nearly 500 apartment complexes in the city housing more than 2 lakh people while it has a 6.5 lakh total population. As per rules, in urban areas, rooftop rainwater or storm-water runoff harvesting structure in the form of a recharge pit, recharge trench, tube-well or recharge well, with a minimum depth of seven feet, should be created. Ironically, the civic body itself is guilty of violating its own rules as the rainwater harvesting structures built in public spaces are lying in a state of neglect.
With prolonged dry-spells and weak monsoon year after year, the drinking water problem in the city has assumed alarming proportion. In a disturbing incident that highlights the seriousness of the water crisis, a woman died during a scuffle at a public pump in the city recently.
The KMC supplies drinking water twice a week due to the shortage. There are about 150 colonies which receive drinking water supply once a week. Water level in the Sunkesula barrage, the lone source of drinking water to Kurnool city, is shrinking year after year. It has only 0.121 TMC of water as against its storage capacity of 1.290 TCM. Ground-water in Kurnool town and nearby areas has plunged to an all-time low.
The situation would have been better, had the residents taken rainwater conservation seriously, say experts and caution that they would face the worst in the coming years if they fail to see the writing on the wall.
“If no remedial measures are taken to address the issue, drinking water crisis, especially in multi-storied buildings, would be a big problem,” said Somisetty Kishore, member of Private Engineers Association. He stressed the need for creating awareness about rainwater harvesting and other water conservation measures among people by municipal officials.
“We have been conducting awareness programmes from time to time, but unfortunately there has been no positive response,” rued City Town Planning Officer V Krishna Kishore.
S Hari Krishna, an assistant engineer in the municipal corporation, admitted that several rainwater harvesting structures in public places were damaged. In all about 70 rainwater harvesting pits have been constructed in municipal schools and government office premises. But only few of them are in good condition, he said.