HYDERABAD: On the occasion of World Meteorological Day, Rainwater Project founder Kalpana Ramesh urged city residents to question their apartment builders on whether their apartments have rainwater harvesting structures in light of acute water shortage being reported in parts of the city.
She was speaking at the ‘Frontline of Climate change’ event organised by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday.
Highlighting the cyclical issues of drought, water shortage and eventually urban flooding, she noted that Hyderabad has gone from being traditionally water abundant to water scarce city.
“It is time citizens start questioning their builders and architects on whether the apartments they intend to buy have water harvesting structures. So many big apartment complexes are staring at water crisis and it is only a matter of time before the issue get worse like in Bengaluru,” Kalpana said.
She highlighted the role played by these water harvest structures, wells, step-wells and lakes in storing rainwater and recharging ground water. “One must imagine these structures to be like massive buckets which play two roles, one of catching the rainwater and reducing surface run-off hence preventing urban flooding and second of recharging groundwater aquifers. Our work in areas like Kondapur has shown both these results,” she said.
She further mooted the need to restore the common well systems in order to address urban flooding and droughts. “Cities like Bengaluru once had a well for every household which is how water scarcity was addressed. However, now wells are being covered and built over. In our recent study in Hyderabad as well, we found nearly 6000 wells buried and destroyed. Efforts must be focused on restoring as many as possible,” said Kalpana.
IMD Hyderabad chief K Nagaratna spoke about the various climate challenges and the need to protect planet.
