The Madurai Civic body has facilitated a group of officials to conduct a door-to-door enumeration and survey to determine the status of a rainwater harvesting system in the households and commercial establishments. The process has started a couple of days back and aims to cover 3.2 lakh houses and commercial spaces.
Assistant engineers have been given the responsibility of conducting these inspections. A sticker will be stuck on the wall of the houses, which have a rainwater harvesting system in good shape. In houses where there is no rainwater harvesting system or there is a need for revamping, notices will be served to them and a time of one week will be given to rectify or create the facility. After this one week, another inspection will be conducted in a stipulated time to assess the situation.
As per the framework prescribed by Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Centre’s scheme mooted by the department of drinking water and sanitation of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the enumeration is expected to complete within the next 10 days but the whole exercise will be completed by August 15th.
The corporation commissioner S Visakan said that a holistic approach is being taken to restore the rainwater harvesting system in residential houses and commercial establishments. They will also ensure that all the government buildings have the facility, he said.
S Arasu, City Engineer has confirmed that flex banner s have been established in prominent places to promote and create awareness on rainwater harvesting. A meeting will soon be organised with the members of the residential associations and non-government bodies working towards rainwater conservation.
An official from the corporation said that around 602 buildings are belonging to the civic body, out of which, at least 400 buildings already have rainwater harvesting systems in good condition. The central team led by Vismita Tej, an official from the Ministry of coal that visited the corporation-run Velliveethiyar School, expressed satisfaction on the status of rainwater harvesting facility available in its premises, he said.
The officials are now concerned regarding the funding available for water conservation. Though Jal Shakti Abhiyan has made water conservation more organised and accountable, the only weak point of this organisation is the funding. There are no separate funds allocated to this purpose. The local bodies have been asked to utilize savings money from the Amrut fund.
