Month: May 2025

Gujarat Man Builds Ultra-Simple Rainwater Harvesting System That Anyone Can Replicate

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Gujarat, India – In a region often troubled by water scarcity, one local resident has found an effective and affordable solution: a simple, do-it-yourself rainwater harvesting system. Captured in a recent YouTube video, his method is being hailed as one of the easiest ways to collect and store rainwater at home.

Addressing Water Shortages the Smart Way

With groundwater levels dropping and municipal supplies struggling to meet demand, the innovator — a rural resident of Gujarat — designed a system using basic household materials. It doesn’t require electricity or any technical expertise, making it accessible even in remote villages.

His motivation was clear: to make the most of the seasonal rains and reduce dependence on external water sources.

How the System Works

The design is minimal but effective:

  • Rainwater from the rooftop is collected via gutters.
  • It is channeled through a pipe into a storage container or underground pit.
  • A basic filtration setup removes debris and leaves.
  • Gravity does all the work — no pumps or machines required.

The entire setup can be assembled using low-cost items such as plastic pipes, drums, and local building materials.

Key Benefits

  • ✅ Low Cost: Uses inexpensive, easily available materials
  • ✅ No Electricity Needed: Works using natural slope and gravity
  • ✅ Environmentally Friendly: Conserves water that would otherwise go to waste
  • ✅ Scalable: Suitable for individual homes, schools, and farms

An Idea Worth Spreading

This grassroots innovation aligns with state and national efforts to promote water sustainability. Government campaigns like “Jal Sanchay” encourage rainwater harvesting, but stories like this bring those campaigns to life. They show that individual action can have a big impact.

What’s more inspiring is how replicable the system is. Anyone — from rural farmers to city dwellers — can follow this model and start harvesting rainwater with little effort.

Watch the Full Video

To see this system in action, check out the original YouTube feature here:
📺 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aFq42oIoX0

Final Thoughts

In the face of growing climate challenges and shrinking water sources, simple solutions like this are more important than ever. This Gujarat resident didn’t wait for help — he created it.

Let his story be a reminder: with just a little effort, every home can become part of the solution to India’s water crisis.

💧 How Amaltas Apartment in Ahmedabad Turned Rain into a Lifesaver: A Simple Rainwater Harvesting Model for Urban India

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📺Watch the video here:

In cities like Ahmedabad, where water shortages are becoming more frequent and groundwater levels are rapidly depleting, every drop of rain counts. While many of us watch the monsoon pass by from our balconies, one housing society decided to act — and their solution is as practical as it is powerful.

Welcome to Amaltas Apartment, a residential complex in Ahmedabad that has set an example for urban sustainability through a simple yet effective rainwater harvesting system.

🌧️ The Concept: Turning Rainwater into a Resource

The system installed at Amaltas Apartment collects rainwater from rooftops and nearby paved areas during the monsoon season. Instead of letting this water drain into the street or go to waste, it is:

Filtered through a basic setup to remove leaves and debris, Then channeled directly into a borewell, allowing the water to seep into the ground and recharge the groundwater table. This method helps restore underground water levels, which are often overdrawn due to daily use, especially in apartment complexes that depend on borewell water.

🌍 Why It Matters

Groundwater depletion is a growing crisis in Indian cities. With increasing urban development, natural water bodies and soil are often replaced with concrete, blocking rainwater from naturally recharging the earth.

Amaltas Apartment’s solution is both sustainable and replicable. It:

  • Reduces pressure on the municipal water supply,
  • Makes the borewell more sustainable year-round,
  • Helps prevent urban flooding by managing rainwater runoff,
  • And promotes responsible water usage within the community.
  • In short, it’s a win-win for residents and the environment.

🤝 Community-Driven Sustainability

What makes this effort especially inspiring is that it was driven by community initiative. The residents or managing committee didn’t wait for government programs or large-scale infrastructure. Instead, they used existing structures and basic materials to create a solution that fits seamlessly into their living environment.

It shows how local actions can lead to meaningful environmental change — even within the walls of an apartment complex.

🏅 Spreading the Message

The video celebrating this initiative uses hashtags like:

#RainwaterHarvesting
#Saviour
#Borewell
#Ahmedabad
#Gujarat
#India
#Salute
These aren’t just tags; they represent a call to action. They highlight the value of local innovation and encourage more people to adopt sustainable practices in their homes and communities.

✅ Final Thoughts

The story of Amaltas Apartment is proof that you don’t need high-tech tools or large budgets to make an impact. With awareness, willingness, and a little engineering, even a small urban space can become part of the solution to India’s water crisis.

If you live in an apartment complex, this might be the inspiration you need to start your own rainwater harvesting system. Because the next time it rains, you’ll know — every drop truly matters.

 

 

Taps and borewell dry up, it’s the return of water tanker raj

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Picture Courtesy : Times Of India

Emboldened suppliers not only extract groundwater illegally and charge a bomb but also blackmail housing societies if asked to comply with rules.

Urmila Devi’s vigil began at noon. She hurriedly finished feeding her children, picked up the empty gallen drum to water tanker. This is not a sham on the outskirts of Delhi hut Sanjay Camp in the heart of Chanakyapuri. It is mid-April and the water line up on the main road. At 2.30pm. Connection that Urmila shares with 60 other families in her lane has already run dry, leaving the people dependent on water tankers for their.

COST OF A WATER TANKER

Mumbai : ₹ 3,000/-
Bengaluru : ₹ 2,500/-
Pune : ₹ 800 – 2,500/-
Gurugram : ₹ 1,000 – 3,000/-

“Every day is a struggle. We wait face bours in line because there is no fixed time. Sometimes the boys and men in our family have to take the day off to climb on the tanker and carry large drums back into the house,” she says, keeping a hawk eye on her drum in the water line’. It is a race no one wins.

About 30 km away a parched Gurugram Braces for another scorching come early For Amit Mudgil, president of the Emaar Palm Hills RWA, summer is a logistical nightmare. 1.2 million litres per (MLD), with se water sourced from two borewells until summer dries them up. With municipal connection, Mudgil co-ordinates 2-3 daily tankers, each carrying 25.000 litres a day at a staggering cost of Rs 2 lakh per month. In Mumbai’s Andheri, meanwhile, Kanakis Rainforest housing society spends up to Rs 6 lakh a month on tankers, says Secretary Dhiresh Poojary.

Welcome water tanker raj. Whether it is residents of a tony apartment building in Bengaluru’s White field or Gurugram’s lush condos, everyone is on an even keel when temperatures rise. Taps and borewells dry up leaving people dependent on water tankers to meet their daily needs. Earlier this month, the water tank or association went on strike in Mumbai. The ostensible reason: they found the licensing renewal conditions too restrictive. The strike was called off four days in, after authorities invoked the Disaster Management Act 2005. But not before residents of affected areas were brought to their knees, forced to buy drinking water, work from home and, in some cases, even move home to tide over the crisis.

PROFIT RISES, TABLE DIPS

Subrata Chakraborty, director of the water programme at the Centre for Science and Environment, says that groundwater usage has increased significantly over the years. “Unplanned expansion of cities far exceeds the pace of new creation of water-sewage infra-structure, leading to a perpetually increasing gap,” he says.

For instance, Gurugram’s peak demand is projected to hit 700 MLD, while supply is at 570 MLD. The gap between demand and supply is caused by a com bination of factors-ageing pipelines in the city’s old settlements and a population and real estate boom that is growing faster than the infrastructure to support it. The consistent civic failure translates into bumper summer profits for private water tanker operators, who tap into agriculture borewells to suck millions of gallons of groundwater out of an already overexploited water table and supply it across the city.

Economist Ameet Singh, who surveyed 500 housing societies across 19 neighbourhoods in Pune, found that the tanker business can run into Rs 23 crore a day in Pune alone, as over 20% of the population is reliant on them for water supply. Over 3,500 tankers make between 22,000 and 30,000 trips per day in Pune. He says, “As the city expands, tankers are the only fallback. Initially, there were plenty of shallow aquifers and wells with groundwater available at 30ft to 40ft depth, from where this water was being sourced. But with these sources drying up, tankers are sourcing from anywhere they can and often, it is untreated.”

 MAFIA TACTICS

This dependence has emboldened tank er vendors, who then pressurise societies to pay a heavy price per tanker, or sign year-long contracts, stipulating that when the need arises, they would be the only suppliers. An example of this fear mongering was seen in Pune’s Kharadi, in Jan. “Our monthly spend on tankers for 850 flats is about Rs 8 lakh. When 100 residents fell sick, we tested our water and found it had high amounts of E. coli in it. Our vendor was supplying untreated water from a sewage treatment plant. When we cancelled his contract, he parked two of his tankers near our tank to block other vendors,” says a resident of the society The matter is now in court after residents complained to municipal authorities. Yet, fear of retaliation from the vendor and of falling sick again looms large.

Experts say the tanker lobbies are not only depleting housing societies finances but buying water from illegal borewells, exploiting groundwater and ultimately rendering groundwater saline. Groundwater activist Sureshkumar Dhoka says, “With thousands of borewells being dug, saline groundwater will transform Mumbai into barren land. While numerous societies are drilling borewells and selling water to tankers for short-term profits, they’re neglecting rainwater harvesting that could replenish aquifers with fresh water during monsoons.”

SMALL PROGRESS

However, there is some relief in sight. In Gurugram, the metropolitan authority plans to operationalise a new 100 MLD plant. An official says, “The water treatment plant at Chandu Budhera will add another 100 MLD per day to the city’s current supply” Similarly, in Bengaluru, the Cauvery Stage V project which targeted providing Cauvery water to areas that lacked piped water was completed earlier this year. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Sewer Board has issued 40,800 new connections in 110 villages. While the situation has improved over the last year, water is yet to flow out of the taps of many households due to some pipeline network issues and high costs.

Chakraborty says, “Use of groundwater or treated water requires state level policies. In many cases, either such policies are not available or not updated. Where policies are available, implementation mechanisms require more attention.” Till such time, people like Urmila must wait.

The Neerain rooftop rainwater harvesting filter can be a powerful solution to the issues highlighted in the article. By enabling households and communities to collect and filter rainwater directly from rooftops, Neerain helps reduce dependency on unreliable municipal supplies and expensive water tankers. Its patented, maintenance-free design ensures clean, usable water that can be stored for daily use or used to recharge borewells, thus addressing both immediate water needs and long-term groundwater sustainability. In urban areas facing water shortages, widespread adoption of Neerain filters can ease pressure on public infrastructure, empower residents with self-sufficiency, and create a more resilient water ecosystem.

NeeRain is proud to republish this blog to spread awareness about the situation of water, for our stakeholders.

This blog is published by: –

Times Of India

We would like to spread this for the benefit of fellow Indians.

Publish On: 19 Apr 2025