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This probably is a very lame question but can educate me on this

there is a RWH project being initiated in my area of residence as well, they intend to collect RW from roof top and charge the ground water

While I understand this part, what I don't understand is, that the water otherwise was also released to the ground through the drainage system anyways and must have been charging the local water table

So how would this project help us in any way


Sent from my iPad using Team-BHP

Thinking how to explain this. Here is one shot.

Rain falls on your roof, you could collect it and use that water or you could let the water seep into the ground in your property. That way you are adding that water to your water table which could help increase the water in your well. Think of it as a RD. You are adding small deposits every rain fall which can be used when you need it.

When this water is let go and drained out, the drains usually lead to a bigger stream and then flows out of your usable area. For example do you know where the water goes? You are wasting a resource which is god given instead of utilizing it at its source. Rain water is pretty clean, when this gets mixed with drainage water it takes a lot of effort to clean it back.

To end this "little drops of water make a mighty ocean". In 2015 we built a 200*200*25 feet tank in our property. Many questioned the need when the river surrounds our property. In the summer of 2016 we used this water to basically irrigate about 20 odd acres of our land. The river is a dry sand bed as of today as we have no rains since december.

Hope this helps.

Maddy

That is exactly what happens in the nature. In concrete jungles however, the rain water doesn't easily seep into the ground and gets washed away through drains, eventually ending up in lake or a sea via a river. Only a small portion of it ends up underground. On top of it, the existing ground water is depleted by borewells. Hence the need for an artificial system to replenish the water table.

If the cities were planned properly with open spaces, parks etc along with strict control of ground water usage, there wouldn't be any need for RWH at all.


This is not the RWH in the correct sense since you are using the water for your use and not replenishing the water table. Many states in the US have a ban on rain water collection and the reasoning is that it affects groundwater supplies. But there is no clear evidence to support this justification and the jury is still out on whether this is good or bad in the long run.

Jaguar: I do understand your point, just wanted to point out something. Rain water harvesting doesn't only mean ground water recharge. There are systems world over where you could use the rain water from the roof collected in tanks for personal uses. This is what we are following.

Coming to rwh being banned, I know there are states which ban it, but in india as there is no limits on the number of bore wells one can dig I think it's a bad idea. Let me just say your better off taking care of yourself in such scenarios as nobody will help you.

Maddy

Our building has had a 'proper' RWH system in place since two years now. As such there wasnt much need since about 2/5th of the society are is greenery and flower beds so it does allow rain water to seep in and recharge the water table. Now while the resurfaced the concrete area 2 years ago they dug a pit next to the borewell about 10 feet deep with concrete rings and filled with pebbles. Water from the roof and concrete area is now directed into a channel that leads to this pit so even more water is being harvested.
Unfortunately due to our proximity to the sea the water from the borewell is really hard approx TDS 850-900 but luckily as far as I can tell it isnt salty or negligibly salty so it is used for flush lines and watering the garden

I was hearing about this slogan for several weeks but didn't quite delve into what it was about, though the I could decipher that it was about saving our rivers. However, this morning as I was coming to office there were volunteers standing along side the road right from Uppal - Jubilee Check Post (Hyderabad), a distance of 21 Kms. I am sure more volunteers would have lined up the road towards Madhapur and many other arterial roads in the city and across cities in India. While I personally save water wherever possible, I felt that the message has to be spread and applauded the efforts of the volunteers. Then I thought I would do my part in spreading the word in this forum as well.

I have always been someone who professed and practised saving water in our home. Personally I use less than half bucket of water to wash my car once a week. I am ok with my car being slightly less shiny than wasting lots of water. However, I see that many people wash their vehicles with running water ,wasting more than 4-5 buckets or even more water in the process i.e. 100 or more ltrs considering that an average bucket holds around 20 ltrs. This is just one way water is wasted. Others wash their premises every day with running water. Some others keep their tap running, that too at full level, while brushing their teeth. These are all a few of the many ways we waste water.

I always felt there needs to be a massive campaign, educating people about the need to conserve water, which is getting scarce every year. And what better way to start off than a Forum of 95,000 members. To be clear, I do not think for a moment that the members of this forum are wasting water or do not know the reasons to conserve water. Just that I wanted to bring Isha foundations campaign 'Rally for Rivers' to the notice of those who didn't knew about it and also to encourage a healthy debate on the subject. We may feel that just campaigning may not yield results, but I have personally seen that bringing issues to limelight does have some impact on some people. And it kind of rubs off when more and more people start acting. One example is littering. My nephew, who is just 5 yrs old, never litters on the roads and if by mistake my sister is about to throw something he immediately stops her. It is because he was highlighted about the issue in his school. Even if a fraction of children from that school start acting that way, we would have a change in culture over a generation.

The same can, and I am sure would, happen with water conservation. There are broadly three ways we can conserve water. (Knwledgeble members can add to this)
1. Rain water harvesting
2. Minimising use of water in our daily life
3. Preserving our Rivers and other small water bodies such as lakes

The first two actions can be done by every individual and I am happy that Isha foundation has started a campaign in the direction of the third, i.e. conserving our rivers.

A few points from the website about why we need to save our rivers.

http://isha.sadhguru.org/rally-for-rivers/

• 25% of India is turning into desert.
• In 15 years, we may have only half the water we need for our survival.
• The Ganga is one of the most endangered rivers in the world.
• The Godavari was dry along much of its length last year.
• The Kaveri has lost 40% of its flow. Krishna and Narmada have lost around 60%

• Estimates say 65% of our water needs are met by rivers.
• 2 out of 3 major Indian cities already deal with daily water shortage.
  
• Many urban residents pay ten times the normal amount for a can of water.
  
• We consume water not just to drink or for domestic purposes. 80% of water is used to grow our food.
  
• Each person’s average water requirement is 1.1 million liters a year.
  
• Flood, drought and rivers turning seasonal are increasingly leading to crop failure across the country.
  
• Climate change is expected to cause worse floods and droughts within the next 25-50 years. During the monsoon, rivers will flood. The rest of the year, drought will follow. These trends are already beginning.

I agree that government action is required to save our rivers, but we can do our bit by conserving water and spreading the word.

Indeed we have done enough of damages to our water bodies and have recklessly been 'using' water. Rivers whom we worship on one hand are filled up with industrial wastes on the other. The East and North East get flooded every year while other parts face drought year after year. We have talked enough about making a Nation River Grid; but nothing concrete has happened till now. Although we keep talking about rain water harvesting, nothing much has been done in this regard. Still huge buildings plans are being approved without making rain water harvesting a mandatory part of projects and we have such huge areas of concrete that virtually all the rain water runs off into drains and then the sea; nothing gets soaked into the ground.
Indeed the time to act is NOW. Tomorrow might be too late.
Sravan

With water problem looming time to open this old thread.

Anyone here tried digging new shallow open well in Bangalore for both recharge and tapping water from shallow aquifers ? What are the expenses involved in doing this

I think in addition to RWH in private properties, there should be a mandate to create small lakes (you can make them deeper) for every given sq kms of housing.

In our area, there is a small lake that gets filled with all the water from roads, hill etc. Ofcourse all the drains should be cleaned and diverted which was done. It has really improved the ground water table in the area. With Kaveri water supply being good there is no need to use borewells (unless you have built 8 apartments in 60x40 ft plot) its a good fallback option if needed. It also improves the vegetation.