The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Cutting water use in gardens, aquariums

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 17, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Cutting water use in gardens, aquariums

Swahilya

CHENNAI : Though the city's water stocks appear adequate to tide over the summer crisis, there are useful ways to optimise water usage and cut down wastage, especially in maintaining gardens or aquariums.

Nutrition expert Dharini Krishnan has installed a simple root zone treatment bed, which filters water through several layers of pebbles to recycle wastewater from the kitchen and bathroom. Flowering canna, which grows best in recycled water, is planted in beds around the zone.

On a larger scale, hotels, educational institutions and industries install sewage treatment plants (STP) to recycle wastewater for use in the garden.

Builders too have now taken to this concept.

Loyola College has been recycling wastewater through a STP for its gardens. Sundaram Clayton, Padi, uses recycled water for flushing toilets, gardening, cooling tower top off and scrubber dilution.

Large quantities of water are required for growing ornamental fish. Exnora Environmental Research Institute director S. Natesan says that recycled gray water can be used to top up ornamental fish tanks.

"There is no scarcity of water but only of management," says the man who developed a fishpond on a 25-acre land dotted with around 20,000 trees.

Frequent changing of water in fish tanks can be avoided by putting filters, which collect and siphon out the wastes.

Aquatic plants that absorb carbon dioxide from the fish and give out oxygen help maintain the balance.

For those with large gardens to maintain, the use of mugs is recommended instead of hosepipes to water the plants.

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