The Hindu : Roof-top rainwater harvesting made mandatory

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Roof-top rainwater harvesting made mandatory

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN. 13. The Government has made roof-top rainwater harvesting mandatory for all buildings with a floor area of 100 square metres (roughly 1,100 square feet) or more and a plot area of 200 square metres (roughly five cents) or more.

Announcing this at a news conference here today, the Local Self-Government Minister, Cherkalam Abdulla, said the new norms had been given effect from January 12 through a notification amending the Kerala Building Rules of 1999 and would be applicable to all building plans submitted for approval from this date. The new norms would not be applicable to building plans cleared till January 12, he added.

Mr. Abdulla said the decision to make rainwater harvesting mandatory was taken as directed by the Central Government and in view of the large-scale wastage of rainwater through run-off even as several parts of the State experienced serious water shortage. The Central directive was to create facilities that would help store rainwater for use and replenish the water table through staggered use.

The notification states that `unless otherwise stipulated specifically in a Town Planning Scheme, workable rooftop rainwater harvesting arrangements shall be provided as an integral part of all new building constructions' for residential, special residential, educational, medical, office and business purposes. It would also be applicable to auditoriums, workshops, automobile wash stalls, automobile service stations, service garages with repairing facilities, assembly plants, laboratories, dry cleaning plants, power plants, gas plants, refineries, food-processing units and any other establishment that may be notified by the Government from time to time. The norms would not apply to buildings with thatched roofing.

The components of roof-top harvesting arrangements include roof catchment area, roof gutters, down pipe and first flush pipe, filter unit, storage tank with provision for drawing water and spillover. Residential and special residential buildings should have the capacity to harvest 25 litres per square metre.

Educational institutions, hospitals, auditoriums, offices, business establishments and automobile workshops, etc. must have provision for harvesting 50 litres of rainwater per square metre.

Automobile service stations and similar establishments must have facilities for harvesting 25 litres of rainwater per square metre.

In case rainwater harvesting facilities have already been provided, only additional arrangements for carrying the spillover water from the storage tank to the recharge well or percolation pit need be provided.

Replying to questions, the Local Self-Government Secretary, P. Kamalkutty, said the Cabinet was considering a proposal to grant property tax concessions as an incentive for compliance with the rainwater harvesting norms.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala