BENGALURU: As the much-awaited rain brought cheer to Bengalureans over the last few days, residents of The Greens Apartment, Doddanekkundi, were especially thrilled as the skies opened up. The apartment collected about 52,000 litres of water during the rainfall this week through rainwater harvesting.
The community has 171 houses and four open terraces connected to two separate filters. The filtered water is sent to underground sumps and borewell recharge points.
“Private water tankers are expensive, especially during summer. Water harvesting saves us from buying water on many occasions. Every drop of rain is collected and put to use,” said Ajit Panicker, general secretary, of the residents’ welfare association.
The expenditure on the project was about `5 lakh, including concrete tank for filters, pipes connecting the terrace to the tank and sump, and filtering material.
Following implementation of the measures last year, including sewage treatment plant and water metering, their water costs have come down to `7.8 lakh from over `16 lakh in the previous years. Each apartment invested `30,343 on the project, and has saved around `5,200 in five months so far, expecting to break even in 30 months.