Twenty-five builders served notices for defunct rainwater harvesting pits

Gurugram: Twenty -five builders were served notices for defunct rainwater harvesting pits. The notices were served by the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) after the survey.

The inspection will be part of the Jalshakti Abhiyan that is being carried out under the supervision of district administration against illegal pumping of groundwater and operation of illegal borewells in Gurugram.

RS Bhath, the district town planner, said that 56 teams will check the provisions and functionality of rainwater harvesting systems in private colonies.

"Large condominium complexes and plotted colonies have been identified on major roads and assigned to each team which shall visit there and find the status of RWH systems in respective areas," he said.

Bhath said that they had started working in June towards compliance of rainwater harvesting rules after they received directions from the headquarters in Chandigarh about implementing the zero rainwater discharge system for Gurugram.

"We are already working on how to integrate the RWH structures in private colonies and use of recycled water for different activities so that rainwater is not wasted," he said, adding rainwater harvesting structures are part of the sanctioned building plan and need to be constructed.

It is estimated that over half of the residents get their water supply through borewells groundwater extraction.

As there has been ban by the court to dig illegal borewells, there are over 15,000 illegal borewells in the city. In most of the areas, the groundwater has fallen to levels of 50 metres.

Water scarcity in large parts of the city has resulted in the growth of tanker mafia where water is been sold to the resident at exorbitant rates.