BIDAR: Karnataka State Police Housing Corporation is one of the first Government institutions in the country to implement rainwater harvesting on a large scale.

Over 80 per cent of the 5,924 residential and 42 non-residential structures it has built in 160 locations in the State have rainwater-harvesting structures.

The corporation has devised techniques to control flash floods by harvesting rainwater.

"We have successfully implemented these techniques in six of our major sites. We will be using them in other sites where necessary," Chairman and Managing Director of the corporation R. Srikumar told The Hindu here today.

The corporation used rainwater harvesting to stop flooding of the State Reserve Police Colony in Shiggaon in Haveri district during the monsoon.

Similar techniques have been used in Yeshwantpur in Bangalore, Haveri, Karwar, Machenahalli in Shimoga and Chikmagalur.

The land allotted to the corporation to build a residential complex for the State Reserve Police in Shiggaon bordered a lake. Rains used to submerge the entire area.

This was stopped using two types of rainwater-harvesting techniques.

Also, the surface run off was used to water plants in a garden while the water from rooftops was used to recharge the groundwater table. The surface run off was funnelled down using bunds from where a network of drains was used to drain the water into an artificial lake. This prevented the submergence of low-lying areas.

"The harvesting of rainwater also ensured that some land remained dry, and we built houses there," chief engineer of the corporation K. Bheemrao said.

Reduced dependence

Water from the rooftops was channelled into a percolation pit, where it was filtered and made potable.

This significantly reduced the dependence on water supply from the local municipal body.

The site where land was allotted to the corporation in Karwar was a dried lake, which used to get submerged during the monsoon.

To prevent this, rainwater was diverted to recharge open wells and borewells. This stopped flash floods. Also, the entire housing colony was built on five ft-high concrete stilts.

The area between the stilts can now be used as basement.

Shimoga experiment

The site at Machenahalli in Shimoga district was atop a hillock.

Rainwater used to submerge low-lying areas and made construction difficult. Also, the area faced a water crisis.

Harvesting rainwater solved the twin problems. Surface water was diverted to an old kalyani at Machenahalli.

The first rains filled the well, and the area was not flooded. The colony now has a rich source of water.

Similar techniques enabled the corporation to avoid floods in Chikmagalur.

The corporation is trying to implement all rainwater harvesting techniques on a single site. "We are doing this in Haveri and Karwar. The results will be evident soon," Mr. Srikumar said.

According to him, rainwater harvesting can be successfully used to prevent flash floods in cities such as Bangalore.

We have done it at a micro-level in Yeshwantpur.

This can be replicated on a macro-level to cover all low-lying areas in the city, Mr. Srikumar said.

The corporation is planning to conduct a national seminar on preventing flooding of low-lying areas using rainwater-harvesting techniques.

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