Indians across the country are reporting an alarming depletion of groundwater. Borewells and Dug wells situated in individual homes, temples, schools, societies, and industries are almost running dry. The natural instinct is to blame the climate change. While that’s certainly played a role, however, the action at the individual level is grossly missing in terms of retaining and raising groundwater using rainwater, reusing treated water, and preventing wastage of water.
Our IT hub Bengaluru has dried out recently, while the National capital New Delhi, Financial capital Mumbai, the fourth largest city Chennai, Cybercity Hyderabad, the Cultural capital Pune, the industrial and economic hub Ahmedabad, pink city Jaipur, and many other cities are in the queue. According to a study by the federal government think tank NITI Aayog, 21 Indian cities will run out of groundwater by next year. A shocking 60 crore Indians face “high to extreme” water stress. This is purely a man-made crisis.
India receives 4 lakh crore Liters of rainwater every year (4,000 bn mg), but only 8% is harvested. According to the Central Water Commission, this is the lowest in the world. Rainwater that is delivered free of cost on each roof, is a pure source of water. Each habitat has a water resource in the form of a borewell, dug well, hand pump, tank, or recharge well. A simple Step is to connect the rooftop rain pipe with the rainwater filter and the water resource. Such a small step would save a huge volume of rainwater every year. Say for example with 3000 mm of rainfall, a house in Mumbai with a 1500 square feet roof can save 4 lakh litres of water annually. With 1500 mm of rain in Kolkata, a similar area house can save 2 lakh Liters of water, and with 1000 mm of rain in Bangalore can save 1 Lakh Liters of pure, fresh water.
While we capture, filter, and store this rainwater in our borewell, we not only save around one lakh rupees worth of electricity cost of the borewell but also retain the equivalent volume of groundwater in the aquifer. This also benefits in improving TDS, hardness, and pH of groundwater. In addition, many habitats have common complaints of less water during peak summer, storage of rainwater in borewells improves the productivity of borewells. The best is yet to come; imagine if your borewell runs dry and there is no water; the only choice would be to leave the place, will be a scary situation for the family. Storage Of filtered rainwater in a borewell, hand pump, or dug well will not allow it to run dry. This is the real magic of maintaining the health of our water resources.
When it’s this simple, then why are we in water stress? A question pops up in the mind of the reader. On one side we have 4 lakh crore Liters of water and on the other side, 60 crore Indians don’t have fresh water, on average 15 to 20 % borewells run dry every year. Such a situation is largely because we have not been able to involve our common man in the process of rainwater harvesting. A common man who faces water scarcity needs to be powered with a simple, practical, and economical device that doesn’t require space or civil change, has no recurring cost, no maintenance headache, no consumables, and that filters and stores rainwater automatically in his borewell.
The traditional pits are no longer relevant in the context of new India. They are expensive, need lot of space, incur high maintenance costs every year, and require a mason and professional to construct and address issues. Moreover, the recovery of water for reuse is complicated. Lakhs of such pits installed by individuals were found non-functional as they could not find the time or a professional to maintain it. Money also became a reason for people to avoid maintenance. In many cases, old construction buildings make it infeasible to install the system.
From pits to portable, masonry to modular; rooftop rainwater filters seem a way forward to empower our common man. A non-electric device with an ABS filter can last up to 25 years. While rainwater is pure, it gets mixed with impurities when falls on the roof. TO remove these impurities, rainwater is passed through this device which filters out even hair-like thick impurities using a double-layer HDPE cloth. The CV (check valve) material filters out particles down to 400 microns while the second filters are effective down to 200 microns. The borewell then receives the crystal-clear water and gets recharged, making it easier to extract water. The transparent lid makes it easier to see the live harvesting and allows for cleaning if any impurities are found. The filter can be mounted on the outer wall of a house that has a roof of 1 200 to 1 500 square feet. It allows vertical fixing and integration of rainwater pipes and it takes around two hours for installation.
This common man-led involvement shows that local resource-focused rainwater harvesting is the solution to global water scarcity.
A domestic helper, gardener, or anyone with a non-technical background can maintain the device. It is that simple. Simplicity is the sole intention behind making the device manageable and cost-effective. The 1 xl xl .5- foot device has no leakages; filters are removable for cleaning. It requires fewer plumbing costs and can be installed in a couple of hours as it only has to create a bypass in the existing pipe. Through this simple technique, a house or an entire colony can be made water-secure. The cost of the HDPE filter is Rs. 2,950, while the stainless steel is Rs. 6,500. However, a traditional rainwater harvesting method costs between Rs 25,000 and Rs 30,000. The device becomes 80% cheaper. No operations cost is involved in the process.
Naishal Shah
Co-Founder — Neerain Private Limited
Naishal is the young face of innovation-led startup NeeRain; who has dedicated his life to empowering our common man to lead a water secure life and thereby transform India into water positive nation. He won CII’s National Award for excellence in Water Management 2022 and Water Leadership Award by The Economic Times, his work is appreciated by MoHUA, Govemment of India for
simplicity in innovation and common man-centric work. He can be reached on rain@neerain.com
Neerain is proud to republish this article for spreading awareness about situation of water, for our stakeholders. Credit whatsoever goes to the Author.
This article is published by: – Indian Plumbing Today
We would like to spread this for the benefit of fellow Indians.
Publish On: : June, 2024
