VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has formed special teams to sensitise public about the importance of rainwater harvesting (RWH) mechanism. Sources said that a special drive would be conducted by these teams in the first week of August to inspect the RWH pits in buildings of the city.
According to the VMC officials, the localities in Vijayawada which experienced water scarcity during the summer had to depend on tankers to meet the residents’ daily requirements. Taking a serious note of the matter, municipal commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh directed the town planning wing to make it mandatory for the builders to include RWH pits and onsite waste treatment plant in their building plan in order to get occupancy certificates (OCs).
Meanwhile, the civic chief asked the officials to prepare a list of buildings already equipped with the system and their present status. With around 2.05 lakh properties registered in the city, the officials expect that at least 60 per cent of them are equipped with RWH pits.
During the special drive, officials will sensitise the residents about the importance of RWH mechanism and will set a deadline for the property owners to set up effective rainwater harvesting structure, officials added.
Speaking to TNIE on Monday, Prasanna Venkatesh said, “During my daily visit to various divisions in the city, I am personally inspecting buildings and apartments to check whether they are equipped with RWH mechanism or else remained non-functional. So far, I have noticed that a large number of the property owners are equipped with RWH mechanism of various types as per their building size, but are failing to maintain it in an effective manner.” Apart from creating awareness over RWH mechanism among the public, the civic body will also study the picture of water management followed by residents and commercial establishments, he added.